Alert notifications utilizing broadcasted telematics data

ABSTRACT

Geographic location data and telematics data may be collected in real-time by a mobile device within a vehicle, or the vehicle itself. The telematics data may indicate vehicle direction, speed, motion, etc., as well as traffic hazards in the surrounding environment. A remote server may receive the location and telematics data from two vehicles. If an anomalous or hazardous condition exists in the vicinity of the first vehicle, a geographic relationship with the second vehicle is determined, and if within a predetermined distance, an alert or alternate route for the second vehicle is determined and transmitted to the second vehicle. As a result, a negative impact or risk of collision caused by the anomalous condition on the second vehicle is alleviated. The amount of the insured&#39;s usage of the telematics data-based risk mitigation or prevision functionality may be used to calculate or adjust insurance premiums, rates, or discounts.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/484,791, entitled “Alert Notifications Utilizing BroadcastedTelematics Data,” filed on Apr. 11, 2017, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/989,946, entitled “AlertNotifications Utilizing Broadcasted Telematics Data,” filed on Jan. 7,2016, which claims the benefit of (1) U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/105,468, entitled “Broadcasting Telematics Data ToNearby Mobile computing devices, Vehicles, And Infrastructure,” filedJan. 20, 2015, (2) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/113,749,entitled “Broadcasting Telematics Data To Nearby Mobile computingdevices, Vehicles, And Infrastructure,” filed Feb. 9, 2015, (3) U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/204,749, entitled “BroadcastingTelematics Data To Nearby Mobile computing devices, Vehicles, AndInfrastructure,” filed Aug. 13, 2015, (4) U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/207,561, entitled “Generating Alert Notifications ByBroadcasting Telematics Data To Nearby Mobile computing devices,Vehicles, And Infrastructure,” filed Aug. 20, 2015, (5) U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/232,035 entitled “Generating AlertNotifications By Broadcasting Telematics Data To Nearby Mobile computingdevices, Vehicles, And Infrastructure,” filed Sep. 24, 2015, (6) U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/232,045, entitled “GeneratingAlert Notifications By Broadcasting Telematics Data To Nearby Mobilecomputing devices, Vehicles, And Infrastructure,” filed Sep. 24, 2015,(7) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/232,050, entitled“Determining Abnormal Traffic Conditions From A Broadcast Of TelematicsData Originating From Another Vehicle,” filed Sep. 24, 2015, (8) U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/232,054, entitled “TakingCorrective Action Based Upon Telematics Data Broadcast From AnotherVehicle,” filed Sep. 24, 2015, (9) U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 62/232,065, entitled “Analyzing Telematics Broadcast To DetermineTravel Events And Corrective Actions,” filed Sep. 24, 2015, (10) U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/232,075, entitled “ProvidingInsurance Discounts Based Upon Usage Of Telematics Data-Based RiskMitigation And Prevention Functionality,” filed Sep. 24, 2015, (11) U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/232,083, entitled “DeterminingCorrective Actions Based Upon Broadcast Of Telematics Data OriginatingFrom Another Vehicle,” filed Sep. 24, 2015, (12) U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/232,090, entitled “Determining Corrective ActionsBased Upon Telematics Data Broadcast From Another Vehicle,” filed Sep.24, 2015, (13) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/232,097,entitled “Generating Alert Notifications By Broadcasting TrainTelematics Data To Nearby Mobile computing device s, Vehicles, AndInfrastructure,” filed Sep. 24, 2015, (14) U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/247,334, entitled “Generating Alert Notifications ByBroadcasting Train Telematics Data To Nearby Mobile computing device s,Vehicles, And Infrastructure,” filed Oct. 28, 2015, and (15) U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/250,286, entitled “GeneratingAlert Notifications By Broadcasting Train Telematics Data To NearbyMobile computing devices, Vehicles, And Infrastructure,” filed Nov. 3,2015. The disclosure of each of which is hereby expressly incorporatedby reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure generally relates to generating alertnotifications and, more particularly, to generating alert notificationsbased upon an analysis of collected telematics data, which may be usedby other drivers.

BACKGROUND

Conventional telematics devices may collect certain types of dataregarding vehicle operation. However, conventional telematics devicesand data gathering techniques may have several drawbacks.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In one aspect, telematics data and/or geographic location data may becollected, monitored, measured, and/or generated by one or morecomputing devices associated with a vehicle. The telematics data mayinclude various metrics that indicate the direction, speed, and/ormotion of the vehicle in which the data is associated. The geographiclocation data may include a geographic location of the vehicle, such aslatitude and longitude coordinates, for example. The one or morecomputing devices may include a mobile computing device positionedwithin the vehicle, an on-board computer integrated within the vehicle,and/or a combination of these devices working in conjunction with oneanother. The one or more computing devices may broadcast the telematicsdata and/or the geographic location data to one or more other devices.

The telematics data and/or the geographic location data may be receivedand/or processed by one or more other computing devices to determinewhether an anomalous condition exists, such as a traffic accident, forexample. These one or more other computing devices may be externalcomputing devices (e.g., a remote server), another mobile computingdevice, a smart traffic infrastructure device (e.g., a smart trafficlight), etc. If an anomalous condition is detected, the geographiclocation of the vehicle associated with the telematics data may be usedas a condition to decide whether to generate an alert at (or send analert notification to) the one or more other computing devicesassociated with nearby vehicles.

In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for sending alertsindicative of anomalous conditions may be provided. A method mayinclude: (1) receiving, by one or more processors, first and secondgeographic location data indicative of a geographic location of a firstand a second vehicle, respectively; (2) receiving, by one or moreprocessors, first and second telematics data indicative of a motion ofthe first and the second vehicle, respectively; (3) determining, by oneor more processors, whether an anomalous condition is present at, and/orin the vicinity of, the geographic location of the first vehicle basedupon the first telematics data; (4) calculating, by one or moreprocessors, a geographic relationship between the first vehicle and thesecond vehicle based upon the first and the second geographic locationdata; and/or (5) sending, by one or more processors, an alert indicativeof the anomalous condition to the second vehicle (and/or an alternateroute avoiding the anomalous condition) when (i) the one or moreprocessors determine that the anomalous condition is present at, and/orin the vicinity of, the geographic location of the first vehicle, and/or(ii) the geographic relationship between the first and second vehiclessatisfies a threshold distance condition to facilitate driving by adriver of the second vehicle utilizing telematics data associated withthe first vehicle, and/or alleviating the risk of an accident orcollision involving the second vehicle due to the anomalous condition.The threshold distance condition may include, for example, the secondvehicle and the first vehicle being within a threshold distance of oneanother. The method may include additional, fewer, or alternate actions,including those discussed elsewhere herein.

In another aspect, a non-transitory, tangible computer-readable mediumstoring machine readable instructions for generating alerts is describedthat, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: (1) receivefirst and second geographic location data indicative of a geographiclocation of a first and a second vehicle, respectively; (2) receivefirst and second telematics data indicative of a motion of the first andthe second vehicle, respectively; (3) determine whether an anomalouscondition is present at, and/or in the vicinity of, the geographiclocation of the first vehicle based upon the first telematics data; (4)calculate a geographic relationship between the first vehicle and thesecond vehicle based upon the first and the second geographic locationdata; and/or (5) send an alert indicative of the anomalous condition tothe second vehicle (and/or an alternate route avoiding the anomalouscondition) when (i) the one or more processors determine that theanomalous condition is present at, and/or in the vicinity of, thegeographic location of the first vehicle, and/or (ii) the geographicrelationship between the first and second vehicles satisfies a thresholddistance condition to facilitate driving by a driver of the secondvehicle utilizing telematics data associated with the first vehicle,and/or alleviating the risk of an accident or collision involving thesecond vehicle due to the anomalous condition. The threshold distancecondition may include, for example, the second vehicle and the firstvehicle being within a threshold distance of one another. Thenon-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium may includeadditional, fewer, or alternate instructions, including those discussedelsewhere herein.

In yet another aspect, a first mobile computing device is described thatmay be located within a first vehicle and include (1) a communicationunit configured to receive (i) telematics data from a second mobilecomputing device indicative of a motion of a second vehicle in which thesecond mobile computing device is located, and/or (ii) geographiclocation data indicative of a location of the second vehicle; and (2) aprocessor configured to: (i) determine whether an anomalous trafficcondition is present at the geographic location of, and/or in vicinityof, the second vehicle based upon the geographic location data; (ii)determine a geographic location of the first mobile computing device;(iii) calculate a geographic relationship between the first vehicle andthe second vehicle based upon the geographic location data and thegeographic location of the first mobile computing device; and/or (iv)generate an alert indicative of the anomalous traffic condition (and/oralternate route avoiding the anomalous condition) when the processordetermines that the anomalous condition is present at the geographiclocation of, and/or in the vicinity of, the second vehicle, and/or thegeographic relationship between the first and second vehicles satisfiesa threshold distance condition to facilitate safer driving by a driverof the first vehicle based upon telematics data associated with thesecond vehicle, and/or alleviating the risk of an accident or collisioninvolving the second vehicle due to the anomalous condition. Thethreshold distance condition may include, for example, the secondvehicle and the first vehicle being within a threshold distance of oneanother. The mobile computing device may include additional, fewer, oralternate components and/or functionality, including those discussedelsewhere herein.

Advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art fromthe following description of the preferred embodiments which have beenshown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, thepresent embodiments may be capable of other and different embodiments,and their details are capable of modification in various respects.Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded asillustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The Figures described below depict various aspects of the system andmethods disclosed therein. It should be understood that each Figuredepicts an embodiment of a particular aspect of the disclosed system andmethods, and that each of the Figures is intended to accord with apossible embodiment thereof. Further, wherever possible, the followingdescription refers to the reference numerals included in the followingFigures, in which features depicted in multiple Figures are designatedwith consistent reference numerals.

There are shown in the drawings arrangements which are presentlydiscussed, it being understood, however, that the present embodimentsare not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown,wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary telematics collectionsystem 100 in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary alert notificationsystem 200 in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary mobile computingdevice 300 in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary mobile computing device home screen 400in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4B illustrates an exemplary mobile computing device applicationscreen 450 in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary computer-implemented method 500 ofgenerating, displaying, and/or sending an alert based upon telematicsdata in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure;and

FIG. 6 illustrates a computer-implemented method 600 for broadcastingalerts and/or telematics data via a cradled mobile computing device tofacilitate safer vehicle travel.

The Figures depict preferred embodiments for purposes of illustrationonly. Alternative embodiments of the systems and methods illustratedherein may be employed without departing from the principles of theinvention described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present embodiments relate to, inter alia, determining whether ananomalous condition is detected at the location of a vehicle using oneor more computing devices within or otherwise associated with thevehicle. If the detected anomalous condition may impact or affectanother vehicle on the road, embodiments are described to generateand/or send alert notifications to other vehicles that may be soaffected. As further described throughout the disclosure, the process ofdetecting anomalous conditions and whether they apply to other vehiclesmay be performed through an analysis geographic location data and/ortelematics data broadcasted from one or more computing devices within orotherwise associated with one or more respective vehicles.

The present embodiments may relate to collecting, transmitting, and/orreceiving telematics data; and may include a mobile device, avehicle-mounted processor, computer server, web pages, applications,software modules, user interfaces, interactive display screens, memoryunits, and/or other electronic, electrical, and/or wirelesscommunication equipment configured to provide the functionalitydiscussed herein. As compared with the prior art, the presentembodiments include specifically configured computing equipment thatprovide for an enhanced method of collecting telematics and/or othervehicle/driving conditions related data, and performing certain actionsbased upon the data collected. Using the telematics and/or other datacollected, in conjunction with the novel techniques discussed herein,recommendations and/or travel/driving guidance may be provided to remotevehicles and/or drivers.

The present embodiments may solve one or more technical problems relatedto (1) vehicle safety, and/or (2) vehicle navigation by using solutionsor improvements in another technological field, namely telematics.Vehicle safety and vehicle navigation is often impacted by short-termtraffic events that occur with little or no warning. For instance,vehicle accidents may be caused by road construction, other vehicleaccidents, traffic being temporarily re-routed, unexpected bad weather,other drivers or vehicles, etc.

To address these and other problems, telematics data (and/or driverbehavior or vehicle information) may be captured in real-time, or nearreal-time, by a mobile device of a vehicle driver (or passenger). Themobile device may be specifically configured for gathering, collecting,and/or generating telematics and/or other data as a vehicle istraveling.

For instance, the mobile device may be equipped with (i) various sensorsand/or meters capable of generating telematics data (GPS unit, speedsensor, speedometer, odometer, gyroscope, compass, accelerometer, etc.)and/or (ii) an application, such as a Telematics Data Application orTelematics “App,” that includes computer instructions and/or softwaremodules stored in a non-transitory memory unit that control collectingand generating telematics and/or other data. The mobile device and/orthe application (or Telematics App) may provide a software module, userinterface, and/or interactive display screen configured to facilitatethe data collection. The mobile device and/or Telematics App executingthereon may be configured to prepare or otherwise format the telematicsand/or other data collected or generated for transmission (via wirelesscommunication and/or data transmission) to a mobile device of a seconddriver, a remote server, another (smart) vehicle, and/or smartinfrastructure—all of which may be equipped with its own Telematics Appor other telematics related applications. The Telematics App may includeother functionality, including the mobile device functionality discussedelsewhere herein.

Alternatively, the mobile device may remotely access a web page, such asvia wireless communication with a remote server. The web page mayprovide the mobile device with the functionality to collect thetelematics and/or other data as the vehicle is moving. Additionally oralternatively, the web page may allow the mobile device to upload ortransmit data in real-time, or near real-time, to a mobile device of asecond driver, a remote server, smart infrastructure, and/or another(smart) vehicle.

Additionally or alternatively, a smart vehicle controller or processormay be configured with the same functionality as that of the mobiledevice described above. For instance, a smart vehicle controller mayinclude an application, software module, or computer instructions thatprovide for the telematics and/or other data collection and generationfunctionality discussed herein. The smart vehicle controller may be inwired or wireless communication with various (“smart” or “dumb”)vehicle-mounted meters, sensors, and/or detectors, such as speedometers,speed sensors, compasses, gyros, accelerometers, etc. that collectand/or generate telematics data and/or other data detailing orassociated with vehicle operation, and/or driving or driver behavior.

In one aspect, by solving problems with collecting telematics dataand/or other data associated with driver behavior and/or vehicleoperation or performance, problems with vehicle navigation and/orvehicle operation may be resolved. For instance, telematics dataassociated with a first vehicle may be collected in real-time by amobile device of a first driver. The mobile device may be specificallyconfigured to gather or generate telematics and/or other driver/vehicledata in real-time as the vehicle is traveling, such as via a TelematicsApp running on the mobile device. If a traffic event is encountered,about to be encountered, and/or expected or anticipated to beencountered by the vehicle as it travels (e.g., road construction; heavytraffic; congestion; bad weather conditions; unlawful, unexpected orerratic operation of other vehicles; questionable or abnormal drivingbehavior of other drivers; irresponsible or overly aggressive drivers;un-attentive or tired drivers, etc.), the telematics (and/or data) datacollected may indicate such.

The mobile device itself (and/or Telematics App) may be configured toidentify the type of traffic event and transmit the type of trafficevent to other mobile devices, a remote server, smart vehicles, and/orsmart infrastructure. In one embodiment, the mobile device (and/orTelematics App) may be in wireless communication with a smart vehiclecontrol system of the vehicle, and the smart vehicle control system maytransmit the telematics and/or other data, and/or any associatedwarnings, to a remote server, and/or roadside smart infrastructure ornearby mobile device or vehicles of other drivers (such as to conservebattery power of the mobile device).

Alternatively, the mobile device (and/or Telematics App) may transmitthe telematics and/or other data collected via wireless communicationand/or data transmission to a second computing device—such as a secondmobile device (or another driver), a second and smart vehicle, a remoteserver, and/or road side infrastructure (smart street signs or roadposts, smart toll booths, etc.). After which, the second and remotecomputing device may analyze the telematics and/or other data that iscollected in real-time, or near real-time, to determine traffic eventsin real-time, or near real-time, respectively. Based upon the type andextent of traffic event detected, the second computing device may issuewarnings, determine recommendations, and/or re-route vehicles. Forinstance, the second computing device may cause a display screen or userinterface of a mobile device or smart vehicle controller of remotedrivers to display a map with (1) a current route that the vehicle ison, (2) a virtual representation of the traffic event, and/or (3) analternate or recommended new route to an original destination thatavoids the traffic event.

In one embodiment, a telematics application or software module (e.g.,the Telematics App as discussed herein) may be designed to communicatewith smart vehicles and smart infrastructure. An advantage of this isthat for a vehicle owner that does not have a “smart” vehicle withwireless communication technology, the application and/or softwaremodule deployed on a smart phone or other mobile device may communicatewith smart vehicles and infrastructure (and/or remote servers and othermobile devices). The telematics application and/or software module maybe programmed to provide voice alerts: such as on a two lane road “donot pass-a vehicle is approaching” or “high speed vehicle is approachingto your left (or right);” “traffic light will turn in 10 seconds;” “turnleft to find an open parking space;” “traffic is stopped 1.5 milesahead;” “traffic has slowed to 20 mph 1.5 miles (or 2 blocks) ahead;”“recommended speed for turn ahead is 30 mph;” and/or “ice on bridge (orramp) ahead.”

As an example, a first mobile device may be traveling in a vehicle. Thefirst mobile device may collect telematics data and/or other data, suchas via a telematics application running on one or more processorsmounted within the first mobile device. The first mobile device (and/orthe telematics application) may detect a travel event from the datacollected. For instance, the first mobile device (and/or the telematicsapplication executing thereon) may determine that the vehicle is locatedon the highway, but the vehicle is moving slower than the posted speedlimit. The first mobile device (and/or the telematics application) maythen transmit the data collected and/or an associated message viawireless communication or data transmission to smart roadsideinfrastructure and/or nearby vehicles (or a second mobile devicetraveling within a nearby and second vehicle). The second mobile device(and/or a telematics application running thereon) may then, using thedata received and/or message received from the first mobile device,generate an audible or visual warning or alert of the travel event, suchas “Warning, congestion ahead,” and/or “Recommend taking Exit 10 andtraveling on Highway 12 for 5 miles until Exit 11 to avoid thecongestion ahead.” The second mobile device (and/or associatedtelematics application) may also be able to compare locations of thetravel event with the current location of the second vehicle todetermine if the travel event poses a potential obstacle to the secondvehicle reaching its destination without interruption. Thus, thetelematics data collected using a first mobile device (and/or atelematics application) and associated with a first driver may be usedto alert a second driver (associated with the second mobile device) of atravel event and/or re-route the second vehicle to facilitate safervehicle travel for the second driver and vehicle.

In one aspect, a mobile device (and/or the telematics application) maycompare a vehicle's traveling speed with a known posted speed limit. Ifthe vehicle's speed is below or above the posted speed by a certainthreshold, for example, 10 or 20 miles-per-hour, then the mobile devicemay generate a warning and transmit the warning to roadsideinfrastructure and/or nearby mobile devices or vehicles. For example,the message may state “Slow moving vehicle in right hand lane ahead;”“High speed vehicle approaching from rear;” And/or “High speed vehicleapproaching from ahead.”

Other messages or alerts that may be generated from mobile devices(and/or telematics applications executing thereon), smart vehiclecontrollers, remote servers, and/or smart infrastructure and transmittedto a mobile device of a driver (and/or smart vehicle) may include“Construction 1 mile ahead;” “Rain (or Snow) 5 miles ahead;” “Detour 2blocks ahead;” “Traffic light directly ahead will change from Green toRed starting in 5 seconds;” “Stranded vehicle on right side of road halfa mile ahead;” “Recommend turning right at next intersection to avoidtravel event 3 blocks ahead;” and/or other travel or trafficevent-related messages.

An insurance provider may collect an insured's usage of the vehiclesafety functionality provided herein, such as at an insurance providerremote server and/or via a mobile device application. Based upon anindividual's usage and/or taking travel recommendations, such as travelrecommendations that reduce or lower risk and/or enhance driver orvehicle safety, insurance policies (such as vehicle or life insurancepolicies) may be adjusted, generated, and/or updated. The insuranceprovider remote server may calculate, update, and/or adjust insurancepremiums, rates, discounts, points, programs, etc., such as adjusting aninsurance discount or premium based upon the insured having thefunctionality discussed herein and/or the amount that the insured usesthe functionality discussed herein. The updated insurance policies(and/or premiums, rates, discounts, etc.) may be communicated toinsurance customers for their review, modification, and/or approval—suchas via wireless communication or data transmission from a remote serverto a mobile device or the insured.

Telematics and Vehicle Navigation

In one aspect, by solving problems with collecting telematics dataand/or other data associated with driver behavior and/or vehicleoperation or performance, problems with vehicle navigation and/orvehicle operation may be resolved. For instance, telematics dataassociated with a first vehicle may be collected in real-time by amobile device of a first driver. The mobile device may be specificallyconfigured to gather or generate telematics and/or other driver/vehicledata in real-time as the vehicle is traveling. If a traffic event isencountered, about to be encountered, and/or expected or anticipated tobe encountered by the vehicle as it travels (e.g., road construction;heavy traffic; congestion; bad weather conditions; unlawful, unexpectedor erratic operation of other vehicles; questionable or abnormal drivingbehavior of other drivers; irresponsible or overly aggressive drivers;un-attentive or tired drivers, etc.), the telematics (and/or data) datacollected may indicate such.

The mobile device itself may be configured to identify the type oftraffic event and transmit the type of traffic event to other mobiledevices, a remote server, smart vehicles, and/or smart infrastructure.In one embodiment, the mobile device may be in wireless communicationwith a smart vehicle control system of the vehicle, and the smartvehicle control system may transmit the telematics and/or other data,and/or any associated warnings, to a remote server, and/or roadsidesmart infrastructure or nearby mobile device or vehicles of otherdrivers (such as to conserve battery power of the mobile device).

Additionally or alternatively, the mobile device may transmit thetelematics and/or other data collected via wireless communication and/ordata transmission to a second computing device—such as a second mobiledevice (or another driver), a second and smart vehicle, a remote server,and/or road side infrastructure (smart street signs or road posts, smarttoll booths, etc.). After which, the second and remote computing devicemay analyze the telematics and/or other data that is collected inreal-time, or near real-time, to determine traffic events in real-time,or near real-time, respectively. Based upon the type and extent oftraffic event detected, the second computing device may issue warnings,determine recommendations, and/or re-route vehicles. For instance, thesecond computing device may cause a display screen or user interface ofa mobile device or smart vehicle controller of remote drivers to displaya map with (1) a current route that the vehicle is on, (2) a virtualrepresentation of the traffic event, and/or (3) an alternate orrecommended new route to an original destination that avoids the trafficevent.

Exemplary Telematics Collection System

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary telematics collectionsystem 100 in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the presentdisclosure. In some aspects, telematics collection system 100 mayinclude hardware and software applications configured to measure,calculate, generate, and/or collect geographic location data and/ortelematics data indicative of the speed, direction, and/or motion ofvehicle 108. Additionally or alternatively, telematics collection system100 may include hardware and software applications configured to receiveand process geographic location data and/or telematics data sent fromanother telematics collection system, to determine whether an anomalouscondition has been detected, whether to generate an alert, and/orwhether to send an alert notification. Telematics collection system 100may include various data communication channels for facilitating datacommunications between the various hardware and software componentsand/or communications with one or more external components.

To accomplish this, telematics collection system 100 may include anysuitable number of computing devices, such as mobile computing device110 and/or on-board computing device 114, for example. These computingdevices may be disposed within vehicle 108, permanently installed invehicle 108, or removably installed in vehicle 108.

In the present aspects, mobile computing device 110 may be implementedas any suitable computing or mobile device, such as a mobile device(e.g., smartphone, tablet, laptop, wearable electronics, phablet, pager,personal digital assistant (PDA), smart glasses, smart watch orbracelet, etc.), while on-board computer may implemented as ageneral-use on-board computer or processor(s) installed by themanufacturer of vehicle 108 or as an aftermarket modification to vehicle108, for example. In various aspects, mobile computing device 110 and/oron-board computer 114 may be a thin-client device configured tooutsource any suitable portion of processing via communications with oneor more external components.

On-board computer 114 may supplement one or more functions performed bymobile computing device 110 described herein by, for example, sendinginformation to and/or receiving information from mobile computing device110. Mobile computing device 110 and/or on-board computer 114 maycommunicate with one or more external components via links 112 and 118,respectively. Additionally, mobile computing device 110 and on-boardcomputer 114 may communicate with one another directly via link 116.

In one aspect, mobile computing device 110 may be configured withsuitable hardware and/or software (e.g., one or more applications,programs, files, etc.) to determine a geographic location of mobilecomputing device 110 and, hence, vehicle 108, in which it is positioned.Additionally or alternatively, mobile computing device 110 may beconfigured with suitable hardware and/or software to monitor, measure,generate, and/or collect one or more sensor metrics as part of thetelematics data. Mobile computing device 110 may be configured tobroadcast the geographic location data and/or the one or more sensormetrics to one or more external components.

In some aspects, the external components may include another mobilecomputing device substantially similar to or identical to mobilecomputing device 110. In accordance with such aspects, mobile computingdevice 110 may additionally or alternatively be configured to receivegeographic location data and/or sensor metrics broadcasted from anothermobile computing device, the details of which are further discussedbelow. Mobile computing device 110 may be configured to determine, uponreceiving the geographic location data and/or sensor metrics, whether ananomalous condition exists at the geographic location indicated by thegeographic location data. If so, mobile computing device 110 may beconfigured to generate one or more audio and/or video alerts indicativeof the determined anomalous condition.

On-board computer 114 may be configured to perform one or more functionsotherwise performed by mobile computing device 110. However, on-boardcomputer 114 may additionally be configured to obtain geographiclocation data and/or telematics data by communicating with one or morevehicle sensors that are integrated into vehicle 108. For example,on-board computer 114 may obtain geographic location data viacommunication with a vehicle-integrated global navigation satellitesystem (GNSS). To provide additional examples, on-board computer 114 mayobtain one or more metrics related to the speed, direction, and/ormotion of vehicle 108 via any number of suitable sensors, such asspeedometer sensors, braking sensors, airbag deployment sensors, crashdetection sensors, etc.

In one aspect, mobile computing device 110 and/or on-board computer 114may operate independently of one another to generate geographic locationdata and/or telematics data, to receive geographic location data and/ortelematics data broadcasted from another telematics collection system,to determine whether to generate one or more alerts, and/or to generateone or more alert notifications. In accordance with such aspects,telematics collection system 100 may include mobile computing device 110but not on-board computer 114, and vice-versa.

In other aspects, mobile computing device 110 and/or on-board computer114 may operate in conjunction with one another to generate geographiclocation data and/or telematics data, to receive geographic locationdata and/or telematics data broadcasted from another telematicscollection system, to determine whether to generate one or more alerts,and to generate one or more alert notifications. In accordance with suchaspects, telematics collection system 100 may include both mobilecomputing device 110 and on-board computer 114. Mobile computing device110 and on-board computer 114 may share any suitable portion ofprocessing between one another to facilitate the functionality describedherein.

Upon receiving notification alerts from another telematics collectionsystem, aspects include telematics collection system 100 generatingalerts via any suitable audio, video, and/or tactile techniques. Forexample, alerts may be generated via a display implemented by mobilecomputing device 110 and/or on-board computer 114. To provide anotherexample, a tactile alert system 120 (e.g., a seat that can vibrate) maybe configured to generate tactile alerts to a vehicle operator 106 whencommanded by mobile computing device 110 and/or on-board computer 114.To provide another example, audible alerts may be generated via aspeaker 122, which may be part of vehicle 108's integrated speakersystem, for example.

Although telematics collection system 100 is shown in FIG. 1 asincluding one mobile computing device 110 and one on-board computer 114,various aspects include telematics collection system 100 implementingany suitable number of mobile computing devices 110 and/or on-boardcomputers 114.

Exemplary Telematics Alert Notification System

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary alert notificationsystem 200 in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the presentdisclosure. In one aspect, alert notification system 200 may include anetwork 201, N number of vehicles 202.1-202.N and respective mobilecomputing devices 204.1-204.N, an external computing device 206, and/oran infrastructure component 208. In one aspect, mobile computing devices204 may be an implementation of mobile computing device 110, as shown inFIG. 1, while vehicles 202 may be an implementation of vehicle 108, alsoshown in FIG. 1. Each of vehicles 202.1 and 202.2 may have an associatedon-board computer, which is not shown in FIG. 2 for purposes of brevity,but may be an implementation of on-board computer 114, as shown inFIG. 1. Each of vehicles 202.1 and 202.2 may be configured for wirelessinter-vehicle communication, such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) wirelesscommunication and/or data transmission.

Although alert notification system 200 is shown in FIG. 2 as includingone network 201, two mobile computing devices 204.1 and 204.2, twovehicles 202.1 and 202.2, one external computing device 206, and/or oneinfrastructure component 208, various aspects include alert notificationsystem 200 implementing any suitable number of networks 201, mobilecomputing devices 204, vehicles 202, external computing devices 206,and/or infrastructure components 208. For example, alert notificationsystem 200 may include a plurality of external computing devices 206 andmore than two mobile computing devices 204, any suitable number of whichbeing interconnected directly to one another and/or via network 201.

In one aspect, each of mobile computing devices 204.1 and 204.2 may beconfigured to communicate with one another directly via peer-to-peer(P2P) wireless communication and/or data transfer. In other aspects,each of mobile computing devices 204.1 and 204.2 may be configured tocommunicate indirectly with one another and/or any suitable device viacommunications over network 201, such as external computing device 206and/or infrastructure component 208, for example. In still otheraspects, each of mobile computing devices 204.1 and 204.2 may beconfigured to communicate directly and indirectly with one and/or anysuitable device, which may be concurrent communications orcommunications occurring at separate times.

Each of mobile computing devices 204.1 and 204.2 may be configured tosend data to and/or receive data from one another and/or via network 201using one or more suitable communication protocols, which may be thesame communication protocols or different communication protocols as oneanother. To provide an example, mobile computing devices 204.1 and 204.2may be configured to communicate with one another via a direct radiolink 203 a, which may utilize, for example, a Wi-Fi direct protocol, anad-hoc cellular communication protocol, etc. Furthermore, mobilecomputing devices 204.1 and 204.2 may be configured to communicate withthe vehicle on-board computers located in vehicles 202.1 and 202.1,respectively, utilizing a BLUETOOTH communication protocol (radio linknot shown).

To provide additional examples, mobile computing devices 204.1 and 204.2may be configured to communicate with one another via radio links 203 band 203 c by each communicating with network 201 utilizing a cellularcommunication protocol. As an additional example, mobile computingdevices 204.1 and/or 204.2 may be configured to communicate withexternal computing device 206 via radio links 203 b, 203 c, and/or 203e. Still further, one or more of mobile computing devices 204.1 and/or204.2 may also be configured to communicate with one or more smartinfrastructure components 208 directly (e.g., via radio link 203 d)and/or indirectly (e.g., via radio links 203 c and 203 f via network201) using any suitable communication protocols.

Mobile computing devices 204.1 and 204.2 may be configured to executeone or more algorithms, programs, applications, etc., to determine ageographic location of each respective mobile computing device (and thustheir associated vehicle) to generate, measure, monitor, and/or collectone or more sensor metrics as telematics data, to broadcast thegeographic data and/or telematics data via their respective radio links,to receive the geographic data and/or telematics data via theirrespective radio links, to determine whether an alert should begenerated based upon the telematics data and/or the geographic locationdata, to generate the one or more alerts, and/or to broadcast one ormore alert notifications.

Network 201 may be implemented as any suitable network configured tofacilitate communications between mobile computing devices 204.1 and/or204.2 and one or more of external computing device 206 and/or smartinfrastructure component 208. For example, network 201 may include oneor more telecommunication networks, nodes, and/or links used tofacilitate data exchanges between one or more devices, and mayfacilitate a connection to the Internet for devices configured tocommunicate with network 201. Network 201 may include any suitablenumber of interconnected network components that form an aggregatenetwork system, such as dedicated access lines, plain ordinary telephonelines, satellite links, cellular base stations, a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN), etc., or any suitable combination thereof.Network 201 may include, for example, a proprietary network, a securepublic internet, a mobile-based network, a virtual private network, etc.

In aspects in which network 201 facilitates a connection to theInternet, data communications may take place over the network 201 viaone or more suitable Internet communication protocols. For example,network 201 may be implemented as a wireless telephony network (e.g.,GSM, CDMA, LTE, etc.), a Wi-Fi network (e.g., via one or more IEEE802.11 Standards), a WiMAX network, a Bluetooth network, etc. Thus,links 203 a-203 f may represent wired links, wireless links, or anysuitable combination thereof.

In aspects in which mobile computing devices 204.1 and 204.2 communicatedirectly with one another in a peer-to-peer fashion, network 201 may bebypassed and thus communications between mobile computing devices 204.1and 204.2 and external computing device 206 may be unnecessary. Forexample, in some aspects, mobile computing device 204.1 may broadcastgeographic location data and/or telematics data directly to mobilecomputing device 204.2. In this case, mobile computing device 204.2 mayoperate independently of network 201 to determine whether an alertshould be generated at mobile computing device 204.2 based upon thegeographic location data and the telematics data. In accordance withsuch aspects, network 201 and external computing device 206 may beomitted.

However, in other aspects, one or more of mobile computing devices 204.1and/or 204.2 may work in conjunction with external computing device 206to generate alerts. For example, in some aspects, mobile computingdevice 204.1 may broadcast geographic location data and/or telematicsdata, which is received by external computing device 206. In this case,external computing device 206 may be configured to determine whether analert should be sent to mobile computing device 204.2 based upon thegeographic location data and the telematics data.

External computing device 206 may be configured to execute varioussoftware applications, algorithms, and/or other suitable programs.External computing device 206 may be implemented as any suitable type ofdevice to facilitate the functionality as described herein. For example,external computing device 206 may be implemented as a network server, aweb-server, a database server, one or more databases and/or storagedevices, or any suitable combination thereof. Although illustrated as asingle device in FIG. 2, one or more portions of external computingdevice 206 may be implemented as one or more storage devices that arephysically co-located with external computing device 206, or as one ormore storage devices utilizing different storage locations as a shareddatabase structure (e.g. cloud storage).

In some embodiments, external computing device 206 may be configured toperform any suitable portion of the processing functions remotely thathave been outsourced by one or more of mobile computing devices 204.1and/or 204.2. For example, mobile computing device 204.1 and/or 204.2may collect data (e.g., geographic location data and/or telematics data)as described herein, but may send the data to external computing device206 for remote processing instead of processing the data locally. Insuch embodiments, external computing device 206 may receive and processthe data to determine whether an anomalous condition exists and, if so,whether to send an alert notification to one or more mobile computingdevices 204.1 and 204.2.

In one aspect, external computing device 206 may additionally oralternatively be part of an insurer computing system (or facilitatecommunications with an insurer computer system), and as such may accessinsurer databases, execute algorithms, execute applications, accessremote servers, communicate with remote processors, etc., as needed toperform insurance-related functions. For example, external computingdevice 206 may facilitate the receipt of telematics data or other datafrom one or more mobile computing devices 204.1-204.N, which may beassociated with insurance customers and/or running a Telematics App, asfurther discussed below with reference to FIG. 3.

In aspects in which external computing device 206 facilitatescommunications with an insurer computing system (or is part of such asystem), data received from one or more mobile computing devices204.1-204.N may include logon credentials which may be verified byexternal computing device 206 or one or more other external computingdevices, servers, etc. These logon credentials may be associated with aninsurer profile, which may include, for example, insurance policynumbers, a description and/or listing of insured assets, vehicleidentification numbers of insured vehicles, addresses of insuredstructures, contact information, premium rates, discounts, etc.

In this way, data received from one or more mobile computing devices204.1-204.N may allow external computing device 206 to uniquely identifyeach insured customer and/or whether each identified insurance customerhas installed the Telematics App. Furthermore, any data collected fromone or more mobile computing devices 204.1-204.N may be referenced toeach insurance customer and/or any insurance policies associated witheach insurance customer for various insurance-related purposes.

For example, as further discussed below with reference to FIG. 3, theone or more mobile computing devices 204.1-204.N may broadcast, inaddition to or as part of the telematics data, data indicative ofwhether a Telematics App has been installed and/or usage data indicativeof how often a driver uses the Telematics App functionality whiledriving. Of course, similar or identical data may be received from avehicle as opposed to the mobile computing device located in thevehicle. That is, the same functions discussed below with reference toFIG. 3 regarding the Telematics App installed and executed on a mobilecomputing device may also (or alternatively) be installed and executedas part of a vehicle's integrated computer functions, as previouslydiscussed with reference to FIG. 1 above.

In various aspects, an insurer may leverage data regarding whether aninsured customer has installed a Telematics App or how often theTelematics App is used while driving to calculate, adjust, and/or updatevarious insurance pricing for an automotive insurance policy or othersuitable insurance policy. For example, an insurer may adjust insurancepremiums, rates, discounts, points, programs, etc., based upon theinsured having the functionality discussed herein and/or the amount thatthe insured uses the functionality discussed herein.

In addition, external computing device 206 may facilitate thecommunication of the updated insurance policies, premiums, rates,discounts, etc., to insurance customers for their review, modification,and/or approval—such as via wireless communication or data transmissionto one or more mobile computing devices 204.1-204.N. For example, aninsurer may provide an initial discount for an insured customerinstalling the Telematics App and logging in with the Telematics App. Tocontinue this example, because the alert notifications provided by theTelematics App may reduce the likelihood of a collision or other damageoccurring to the vehicle or the driver, use of the Telematics App mayfunction to mitigate or prevent driving risks upon which an insurancepolicy is partially based. Therefore, an insurer may provide anadditional discount that increases with the insured customer's usage ofthe Telematics App while driving.

With respect to FIG. 2, infrastructure component 208 may be implementedas any suitable type of traffic infrastructure component configured toreceive communications from and/or to send communications to otherdevices, such as external computing devices 204.1, 204.2 and/or externalcomputing device 206, for example. In some aspects, as noted herein,infrastructure component 208 may be implemented as one or more “smart”infrastructure components, which may be configured to communicate withone or more other devices directly and/or indirectly.

For example, smart infrastructure component 208 may be configured tocommunicate with one or more devices directly and/or indirectly. Forexample, smart infrastructure component 208 may be configured tocommunicate directly with mobile computing device 204.2 via link 203.dand/or with mobile computing device 204.1 via links 203 b and 203 futilizing network 201. To provide another example, smart infrastructurecomponent 208 may communicate with external computing device 206 vialinks 203 e and 203 f utilizing network 201.

Smart infrastructure component 208 may be implemented as any suitabletype of traffic infrastructure component configured to receivecommunications from and/or to send communications to other devices, suchas external computing devices 204.1, 204.2 and/or external computingdevice 206, for example. For example, smart infrastructure component 208may be implemented as a traffic light, a railroad crossing light, aconstruction notification sign, a roadside display configured to displaymessages, a billboard display, etc.

In some aspects, smart infrastructure component 208 may be configured toreceive geographic location data and/or telematics data from one or moreother devices and to process this data to determine whether an anomalouscondition has been detected and whether the detected anomalous conditionsatisfies a threshold distance condition with respect to smartinfrastructure component 208. The threshold distance condition mayinclude, for example, the geographic location of the anomalous conditionbeing within a threshold radius of smart infrastructure component 208,on the same road serviced by smart infrastructure component 208, etc. Ifso, smart infrastructure component 208 may perform one or more relevantactions such as displaying one or more relevant messages to notifydrivers in the vicinity, to modify traffic patterns, to change trafficlight timing, to redirect traffic, etc.

In other aspects, smart infrastructure component 208 may receive dataindicating that an alert is to be generated and/or the type of alertthat is to be generated. In accordance with such aspects, one or more ofmobile computing devices 204.1, 204.2 and/or external computing device206 may make the determination of whether an anomalous condition existsand is within a threshold distance of smart infrastructure component208. If so, the data received by smart infrastructure component 208 maybe indicative of the type of anomalous condition, the location of theanomalous condition, commands to cause smart infrastructure component208 to perform one or more acts, the type of acts to perform, etc.

To provide some illustrative examples, if smart infrastructure component208 is implemented as a smart traffic light, smart infrastructurecomponent 208 may change a traffic light from green to red (orvice-versa) or adjust a timing cycle to favor traffic in one directionover another. To provide another example, if smart infrastructurecomponent 208 is implemented as a traffic sign display, smartinfrastructure component 208 may display a warning message that theanomalous condition (e.g., a traffic accident) has been detected aheadand/or on a specific road corresponding to the geographic location data.

In additional aspects, other vehicles may play a role in the one or morealert notifications. To provide an illustrative example, an emergencyvehicle (e.g., an ambulance, fire truck, etc.) may be dispatched to thescene of an accident. In such a case, the emergency vehicle may beconfigured to broadcast one or more signals that cause one or more ofmobile computing devices 204.1-204.2 to generate one or more alertnotifications and/or smart infrastructure component 208 to change to adifferent state. These signals may be broadcasted from a mobilecomputing device carried by emergency response personnel and triggeredupon the vehicle approaching (e.g., within a threshold distance) ageographic location associated the vehicle accident. Additionally oralternatively, the signals may be broadcasted by any suitable devicemounted in or otherwise associated with the emergency response vehicle.

To provide another illustrative example, a train may broadcast one ormore signals indicating that the train is approaching a railroadcrossing, which is received by one or more of mobile computing devices204.1-204.2 and/or smart infrastructure component 208 and results in themobile computing devices generating one or more alert notificationsand/or the smart infrastructure component 208 changing to a differentstate. Similar to the emergency vehicle example above, the broadcastedsignal may be transmitted upon the train approaching (e.g., within athreshold distance) of the crossing location, and may be transmittedfrom a mobile computing device and/or equipment mounted on or otherwiseassociated with the train.

Additional vehicles such as emergency response vehicles and trains arenot illustrated in FIG. 2 for purposes of brevity. However, the signalstransmitted from these vehicles may be transmitted in accordance withany suitable communication protocol directly and/or indirectly to one ormore or mobile computing devices 204.1-204.2 and/or smart infrastructurecomponent 208. For example, the signals may be transmitted to directlyto smart infrastructure component 208, indirectly to one more mobilecomputing devices 204.1-204.2 via network 201 and/or remote computingdevice 206, etc.

Exemplary End-User/Destination Devices

The following details regarding the determination of an anomalouscondition are explained in this section with reference to computingdevice 300, which may be a mobile computing device or “mobile device”(e.g., smart phone, laptop, tablet, phablet, smart watch, wearableelectronics, etc.). In the present aspect, computing device 300 may beimplemented as any suitable computing device, such as a mobile computingdevice (e.g., mobile computing device 100, as shown in FIG. 1). Inanother aspect, computing device 300 may be implemented as an on-boardvehicle computer (e.g., on-board vehicle computer 114, as shown in FIG.1). In still other aspects, computing device 300 may be implemented as adevice external to a vehicle (e.g., remote computing device 206 or smartinfrastructure component 208, as shown in FIG. 2).

Depending upon the implementation of computing device 300, the methodsand processes utilized to determine the existence of anomalousconditions may be performed locally, remotely, or any suitablecombination of local and remote processing techniques.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computing device ormobile device 300 in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the presentdisclosure. Computing device 300 may be implemented as any suitablecomputing device configured to (1) monitor, measure, generate, and/or orcollect telematics data; (2) broadcast the geographic location dataand/or the telematics data to one or more external components, such asvia wireless communication and/or data transmission; (3) receivegeographic location data and/or telematics data broadcasted from anotherdevice, such as via wireless communication and/or data transmission; (4)determine whether an anomalous condition exists at the geographiclocation indicated by the geographic location data based upon thetelematics data; (5) generate one or more alerts indicative of theanomalous condition; and/or (6) broadcast one or more alertnotifications to other devices, such as via wireless communicationand/or data transmission.

Computing device 300 may include a display 316, a graphics processingunit (GPU) 318, a location acquisition unit 320, a speaker/microphone322, a sensor array 326, a user interface 328, a communication unit 330,and/or a controller 340.

In one aspect, controller 340 may include a program memory 302, amicroprocessor (MP) 306, a random-access memory (RAM) 308, and/or aninput/output (I/O) interface 310, each of which may be interconnectedvia an address/data bus 312. Controller 340 may be implemented as anysuitable type and/or number of processors, such as a host processor forthe relevant device in which computing device 300 is implemented, forexample. In some aspects, controller 240 may be configured tocommunicate with additional data storage mechanisms that are not shownin FIG. 3 for purposes of brevity (e.g., one or more hard disk drives,optical storage drives, solid state storage devices, etc.) that residewithin or are otherwise associated with mobile computing device 200.

Program memory 302 may store data used in conjunction with one or morefunctions performed by computing device 300 to facilitate theinteraction between computing device 300 and one or more other devices.For example, if computing device 300 is implemented as a mobilecomputing device (e.g., mobile computing device 204.1, as shown in FIG.2), then program memory 302 may store one or more programs,applications, algorithms, etc. that, when executed by controller 340,facilitate the interaction between mobile computing device 204.1 and (i)one or more networks (e.g., network 201), (ii) other mobile computingdevices (e.g., mobile computing device 204.2), (iii) external computingdevices (e.g., external computing device 206), (iv) vehicles (e.g.,vehicle 108), (v) vehicle on-board computers (e.g., on-board computer114), infrastructure components (e.g., smart infrastructure component208), etc.

In various aspects, program memory 302 may be implemented as anon-transitory tangible computer readable media configured to storecomputer-readable instructions, that when executed by controller 340,cause controller 340 to perform various acts. Program memory 302 mayinclude an operating system 342, one or more software applications 344,and one or more software routines 352. To provide another example,program memory 302 may include other portions to store data that may beread from and written to by MP 306, such as data storage 360, forexample.

In one aspect, one or more MPs (micro-processors) 306 may be configuredto execute one or more of software applications 344, software routines352 residing in program memory 302, and/or other suitable softwareapplications. For example, operating system 342 may be implemented asany suitable operating system platform depending upon the particularimplementation of computing device 300. For example, if computing device300 is implemented as a mobile computing device, operating system 342may be implemented as a mobile OS platform such as the iOS®, Android™,Palm® webOS, Windows® Mobile/Phone, BlackBerry® OS, or Symbian® OSmobile technology platforms, developed by Apple Inc., Google Inc., PalmInc. (now Hewlett-Packard Company), Microsoft Corporation, Research inMotion (RIM), and Nokia, respectively.

In one embodiment, data storage 360 may store data such as applicationdata for the one or more software applications 344, routine data for theone or more software routines 352, geographic location data and/ortelematics data, etc.

Display 316 may be implemented as any suitable type of display and mayfacilitate user interaction with computing device 300 in conjunctionwith user interface 328. For example, display 316 may be implemented asa capacitive touch screen display, a resistive touch screen display,etc. In various embodiments, display 316 may be configured to work inconjunction with controller 340 and/or GPU 318 to display alerts and/ornotifications received from other devices indicative of detectedanomalous conditions.

Communication unit 330 may be configured to facilitate communicationsbetween computing device 300 and one or more other devices, such asother mobile computing devices, networks, external computing devices,smart infrastructure components, etc. As previously discussed withreference to FIGS. 1 and 2, computing device 300 may be configured tocommunicate with these other devices in accordance with any suitablenumber and type of communication protocols. Thus, in various aspects,communication unit 330 may be configured to support any suitable numberand type of communication protocols based upon a particular networkand/or device in which computing device 300 is communicating tofacilitate this functionality.

Communication unit 330 may be configured to support separate orconcurrent communications, which may be the same type of communicationprotocol or different types of communication protocols. For example,communication unit 330 may be configured to facilitate communicationsbetween computing device 300 and an external computing device (e.g.,external computing device 206) via cellular communications whilefacilitating communications between computing device 300 and the vehiclein which it is carried (e.g., vehicle 108) via BLUETOOTH communications.

Communication unit 330 may be configured to broadcast data and/or toreceive data in accordance with any suitable communications schedule.For example, communication unit 330 may be configured to broadcastgeographic location data and/or telematics data every 15 seconds, every30 seconds, every minute, etc. As will be further discussed below, thegeographic location data and/or telematics data may be sampled inaccordance with any suitable sampling period. Thus, when broadcasted bycommunications unit 330 in accordance with a recurring schedule, thegeographic location data and/or telematics data may include a log orcollection of the geographic location data and/or telematics data thatwas sampled since the last data transmission. A suitable communicationschedule may be selected as a tradeoff between a desired anomalouscondition detection speed and battery usage of computing device 300,when applicable.

Additionally or alternatively, aspects include communication unit 330being configured to conditionally send data, which may be particularlyadvantageous when computing device 300 is implemented as a mobilecomputing device, as such conditions may help reduce power usage andprolong battery life. For example, communication unit 330 may beconfigured to only broadcast when telematics data has been sampled sincethe last transmission, which will be further discussed below withregards to sensor array 326. Controller 340 may determine whether hasbeen sampled since the last transmission by, for example, analyzing amemory address range (e.g., in data storage 360, RAM 308, etc.)associated with the storage of the telematics data and comparing thecontents of this buffer to a known range of valid values.

To provide another example, aspects include communication unit 330 beingadditionally or alternatively configured to only broadcast telematicsdata when computing device 300 is connected to a power source (e.g., anin-vehicle charger). To provide still another example, aspects includecommunication unit 330 being additionally or alternatively configured toonly broadcast telematics data when communication unit 330 is connectedto and/or communicating with a device identified as a vehicle. This mayinclude, for example, identifying a BLUETOOTH connection as a validvehicle to satisfy this condition upon installation and/or setup of therelevant application or program executed by computing device 300 tofacilitate the functionality described herein.

Location acquisition unit 320 may be configured to generate geographiclocation data utilizing any suitable global positioning techniques. Forexample, location acquisition unit 320 may communicate with one or moresatellites and/or wireless transmitters to determine a location ofcomputing device 300. Location acquisition unit 320 may use “AssistedGlobal Positioning System” (A-GPS), satellite GPS, or any other suitableglobal positioning protocol (e.g., the GLONASS system operated by theRussian government, the Galileo system operated by the European Union,etc.) to determine a geographic location of computing device 300.

In one aspect, location acquisition unit 320 may periodically store oneor more geographic locations of computing device 300 as geographiclocation data in any suitable portion of memory utilized by computingdevice 300 (e.g., program memory 302, RAM 308, etc.) and/or to anotherdevice (e.g., another mobile computing device, an external computingdevice, etc.). In this way, location acquisition unit 320 may sample thelocation of computing device 300 in accordance with any suitablesampling rate (e.g., every 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, etc.) andstore this geographic location data representing the position ofcomputing device 300, and thus the vehicle in which it is travelling,over time.

Speaker/microphone 322 may be configured as one or more separatedevices. Speaker/microphone 322 may include a microphone configured todetect sounds and to convert sounds to data suitable for communicationsvia communications unit 330. Speaker/microphone 322 may additionally oralternatively include a speaker configured to play sound in response todata received from one or more components of computing device 300 (e.g.,controller 340). In one embodiment, speaker/microphone 322 may beconfigured to play audible alerts.

User-interface 328 may be implemented as any suitable device configuredto collect user input, such as a “soft” keyboard displayed on display316 of computing device 300, a keyboard attached to computing device300, an external keyboard communicating via a wired or a wirelessconnection (e.g., a BLUETOOTH keyboard), an external mouse, etc.

Sensor array 326 may be configured to measure any suitable number and/ortype of sensor metrics as part of the telematics data. In one aspect,sensor array 326 may be implemented as one or more sensors positioned todetermine the speed, force, heading, and/or direction associated withmovements of computing device 300 and, thus, a vehicle in whichcomputing device 300 is positioned. Additionally or alternatively,sensor array 326 may be configured to communicate with one or moreportions of computing device 300 to measure, collect, and/or generateone or more sensor metrics from one or more non-sensor sources, whichwill be further discussed below.

To generate one or more sensor metrics, sensor array 326 may include,for example, one or more cameras, accelerometers, gyroscopes,magnetometers, barometers, thermometers, proximity sensors, lightsensors, Hall Effect sensors, etc. In aspects in which sensor array 326includes one or more accelerometers, sensor array 326 may be configuredto measure and/or collect accelerometer metric values utilizing anX-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis accelerometer. In accordance with suchaspects, sensor array 326 may measure sensor metric values as athree-dimensional accelerometer vector that represents the movement ofcomputing device 300 in three dimensional space by combining the outputsof the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis accelerometers using any suitabletechniques.

In one aspect, sensor array 326 may include one or more cameras or otherimage capture devices. In accordance with such aspects, the one or morecameras that are part of sensor array 326 may be mounted or otherwisepositioned on mobile computing device 300 such that, when mobilecomputing device 300 is docked, cradled, or otherwise mounted within avehicle, images may be captured from this vantage point. For example,when mobile computing device 300 is mounted within a vehicle, a cameraimplemented by sensor array 326 may function as a dashboard camera,capturing images and/or video data of various objects outside of thevehicle from this vantage point. Additionally or alternatively, mobilecomputing device 300 may capture audio data with the image and/or videodata via speaker/microphone 322.

In various aspects, mobile computing device 300 may begin to capturedata upon detecting that it has been placed in a cradle, and otherwisenot capture data in such a manner. This detection may occur, forexample, via one or more conditions being satisfied. For example, mobilecomputing device 300 may utilize one or more sensors (e.g., anaccelerometer that is part of sensor array 326) to determine that mobilecomputing device 300 has changed orientation to horizontal (as is commonwhen docked in a vehicle), that mobile computing device 300 iscommunicating via BLUETOOTH with the vehicle, that the vehicle is movingabove a threshold speed, etc. Aspects include any suitable number ofconditions, upon being satisfied, triggering mobile computing device 300to start collecting telematics data, images, audio, video, etc., viasensor array 326.

In various aspects, sensor array 326 may be configured to sample the oneor more sensor metrics in accordance with any suitable sampling rateand/or based upon one or more conditions being satisfied. For example,sensor array 326 may be configured to implement one or moreaccelerometers to sample sensor metrics indicative of a g-forceassociated with vehicle braking, acceleration, and cornering at a rateof 15 Hz, 30 Hz, 60 Hz, etc., which may be the same sampling rate as oneanother or different sampling rates. To provide another example, sensorarray 326 may be configured to implement one or more gyroscopes toimprove the accuracy of the measured one or more sensor metrics and todetermine whether the phone is in use or stationary within a vehicle. Toprovide another example, sensor array 326 may implement a compass(magnetometer) to determine a direction or heading of a vehicle in whichcomputing device 300 is located.

Again, sensor array 326 may additionally or alternatively communicatewith other portions of computing device 300 to obtain one or more sensormetrics even though these sensor metrics may not be measured by one ormore sensors that are part of sensor array 326. For example, sensorarray 326 may communicate with one or more of location acquisition unit320, communication unit 330, and/or controller 340 to obtain data suchas timestamps synchronized to the sampling of one or more sensor metrics(which may be measured to within hundredths of a second or smallerresolutions), geographic location data (and correlated timestampsthereof), a velocity based upon changes in the geographic location dataover time, a battery level of computing device 300, whether a battery ofcomputing device 300 is charging, whether computing device 300 is beinghandled or otherwise in use, an operating status of computing device 300(e.g., whether computing device 300 is unlocked and thus in use).

In various aspects, sensor array 326 may base timestamps upon anysuitable clock source, such as one utilized by location acquisition unit320 for GNSS functions. The timestamps may be, for example, recorded orlogged as various data is sampled to be synchronized to the sampling ofone or more sensor metrics (which may be measured to within hundredthsof a second or smaller resolutions).

Additionally or alternatively, sensor array 326, location acquisitionunit 320, and/or communication unit 330 may log or otherwise measurevarious metrics or other data that may be used by controller 340 todetermine how often the functionality of the Telematics Application isbeing utilized when a vehicle is being driven. For example, sensor array326 may log the time when telematics data is being collected, when theTelematics Application is running, and/or when the TelematicsApplication has been started. To provide additional examples,communication unit 330 may store data indicative of a BLUETOOTHconnection status of mobile computing device 300. To provide yet anotherexample, location acquisition unit 320 may store and/or log the changesin geographic location of mobile computing device 300 over time.

In various aspects, controller 340 may determine how often a driver usesthe Telematics App based upon any suitable combination of theaforementioned data. For example, the BLUETOOTH connection status may beleveraged to determine whether mobile computing device 300 is located ina vehicle. To provide another example, the changes in the geographiclocation data over time may be utilized to determine whether mobilecomputing device 300 has exceeded a threshold speed for a thresholdduration of time. In this way, a determination may be made whethermobile computing device 300 is located in a vehicle while the vehicle isbeing driven.

Various aspects include the aforementioned data being leveraged tocalculate a usage amount in which a user utilizes the Telematics Appwhile driving. For example, the usage amount may be based upon a totalproportion of time (e.g., 80% of the time while driving, thefunctionality provided by the Telematics App is enabled). To provideanother example, the usage amount may be mileage-based (e.g., 90% of themiles driven are done so with the functionality of the Telematics Appavailable to the driver). As discussed above, this usage data may besent to an insurer or other third party via a telematics datatransmission or a separate transmission and used to set and/or adjust aninsurance policy, premium, or discount for the insured customer.

In one aspect, sensor array 326 may sample one or more sensor metricsbased upon one or more conditions being satisfied. For example, sensorarray 326 may determine, based upon gyroscope sensor metrics,communication with controller 340, etc., whether computing device 300 isin use. If computing device 300 is in use (e.g., when implemented as amobile computing device) then the movement of computing device 300within the vehicle may not truly represent the vehicle motion, therebycausing sensor metrics sampled during this time to be erroneous.Therefore, aspects include sensor array 326 sampling the one or moresensor metrics when computing device 300 is not in use, and otherwisenot sampling the one or more sensor metrics.

In one aspect, sensory array 326 may include one or more cameras and/orimage capture devices. When sensory array 326 is implemented with one ormore cameras, these cameras may be configured as any suitable type ofcamera configured to capture and/or store images and/or video. Forexample, when mobile computing device 300 is mounted in a vehicle, thecamera may be configured to store images and/or video data of the roadin front of the vehicle in which it is mounted, and to store this datato any suitable portion of program memory 302 (e.g., data storage 360).Controller 340 and/or MP 306 may analyze this data to generate one ormore local alerts, to transmit signals indicative of detected alters toone or more other devices, etc., which is further discussed below withreference to the execution of anomalous condition detection routine 358.

Again, the telematics data broadcasted by computing device 300 mayinclude one or more sensor metrics. However, the telematics data mayadditionally or alternatively include other external data that may berelevant in determining the presence of an anomalous condition. Forexample, the telematics data may include external data such as speedlimit data correlated to a road upon which computing device 300 islocated (and thus the vehicle in which it is travelling), an indicationof a type of road, a population density corresponding to the geographiclocation data, etc.

In some aspects, computing device 300 may obtain this external data byreferencing the geographic location data to locally stored data (e.g.,data stored in data storage 360) and broadcasting this data appended toor otherwise included with the sensor metrics data as part of thetelematics data. In other aspects, the device receiving the telematicsdata (e.g., a mobile computing device, an external computing device, aninfrastructure component) may generate the external data locally or viacommunications with yet another device. As will be further discussedbelow, this external data may further assist the determination ofwhether an anomalous condition is present.

In some aspects, software applications 344 and/or software routines 352may reside in program memory 302 as default applications that may bebundled together with the OS of computing device 300. For example, webbrowser 348 may be part of software applications 344 that are includedwith OS 342 implemented by computing device 300.

In other aspects, software applications 344 and/or software routines 352may be installed on computing device 300 as one or more downloads, suchas an executable package installation file downloaded from a suitableapplication store via a connection to the Internet. For example, alertnotification application 346, telematics collection routine 354,geographic location determination routine 356, and/or anomalouscondition detection routine 358 may be stored to suitable portions ofprogram memory 302 upon installation of a package file downloaded insuch a manner. Examples of package download files may include downloadsvia the iTunes store, the Google Play Store, the Windows Phone Store,downloading a package installation file from another computing device,etc. Once downloaded, alert notification application 346 may beinstalled on computing device 300 as part of an installation packagesuch that, upon installation of alert notification application 346,telematics collection routine 354, geographic location determinationroutine 356, and/or anomalous condition detection routine 358 may alsobe installed.

In one embodiment, software applications 344 may include an alertnotification application 346, which may be implemented as a series ofmachine-readable instructions for performing the various tasksassociated with executing one or more embodiments described herein. Inone aspect, alert notification application 346 may cooperate with one ormore other hardware or software portions of computing device 300 tofacilitate these functions.

In one aspect, alert notification application 346 may function as aTelematics Application (or “App”) which is downloaded and installed onmobile computing device (or mobile device) 300 by a user via a suitablethird-party software store and/or portal (e.g., Apple iTunes, GooglePlay, the Windows Store, etc.).

To provide an illustrative example, alert notification application 344may include instructions for performing tasks such as determining ageographic location of computing device 300 (e.g., via communicationswith location acquisition unit 330), monitoring, measuring, generating,and/or collecting telematics data, broadcasting the geographic locationdata and/or the telematics data to one or more external devices,receiving geographic location data and/or telematics data from anothercomputing device, determining whether an anomalous condition existsbased upon the geographic location data and/or the telematics data,generating one or more alerts indicative of the determined anomalouscondition, receiving user input, facilitating communications betweencomputing device 300 and one or more other devices in conjunction withcommunication unit 330, etc.

To provide another example, aspects include mobile computing device 300being configured to capture image and/or video data while cradled in adock or otherwise mounted within a vehicle, as previously discussed. Inaccordance with various aspects, this data capture may be facilitated,for example, by instructions stored in alert notification application346 being executed by controller 340 and/or MP 306. In various aspects,alert notification application 346 may facilitate mobile computingdevice 300 capturing image, audio, and/or video data at any suitablesampling rate (e.g., once every second, 5 times per second, etc.) andstoring this data to any suitable portion of the mobile computing device(e.g., data storage 360). Aspects include data sampling processesoccurring as background operations to allow other applications to be runon mobile computing device 300 (e.g., navigation applications) whiletelematics data and/or images, video, and/or audio data is collected bymobile computing device 300.

Software applications 344 may include a web browser 348. In someembodiments (e.g., when computing device 300 is implemented as a mobilecomputing device), web browser 348 may be a native we browserapplication, such as Apple's Safari®, Google Android™ mobile webbrowser, Microsoft Internet Explorer® for Mobile, Opera Mobile™, etc. Inother embodiments, web browser 348 may be implemented as an embedded webbrowser.

Regardless of the implementation of web browser 348, various aspectsinclude web browser 348 being implemented as a series ofmachine-readable instructions for interpreting and displaying web pageinformation received from an external computing device (e.g., externalcomputing device 204.2, as shown in FIG. 2). This web page informationmay be utilized in conjunction with alert notification application 346to perform one or more function of the aspects as described herein.

In one embodiment, software routines 352 may include a telematicscollection routine 354. Telematics collection routine 354 may includeinstructions, that when executed by controller 340, facilitate sampling,monitoring, measuring, collecting, quantifying, storing, encrypting,transmitting, and/or broadcasting of telematics data. In some aspects,telematics collection routine 354 may facilitate collection oftelematics data locally via one or more components of computing device300 (e.g., via sensor array 326, location acquisition unit 320,controller 340, etc.). In other aspects, telematics collection routine354 may facilitate the storage of telematics data received from anotherdevice (e.g., via communication unit 330).

In one embodiment, software routines 352 may include a geographiclocation determination routine 356. Geographic location determinationroutine 356 may include instructions, that when executed by controller340, facilitate sampling, measuring, collecting, quantifying, storing,transmitting, and/or broadcasting of geographic location data (e.g.,latitude and longitude coordinates). In some aspects, geographiclocation determination routine 356 may facilitate generating and/orstoring geographic location data locally via one or more components ofcomputing device 300 (e.g., via location acquisition unit 320 and/orcommunication unit 330). In other aspects, geographic locationdetermination routine 356 may facilitate the storage of geographiclocation data received from another device (e.g., via communication unit330).

Additionally or alternatively, software routines 352 may includeanomalous condition detection routine 358. Anomalous condition detectionroutine 358 may include instructions, that when executed by controller340, facilitate the determination of whether an anomalous conditionexists based upon the telematics data, the geographic location data,and/or image and/or video data captured by one or more cameras or otherimaging devices. An anomalous condition may include any suitablecondition that indicates a deviation from normal traffic patterns. Forexample, if an accident occurs, traffic may slow down due to a carpileup, a reduction in available lanes, and/or rerouting of traffic.Because the telematics data may include data indicative of the speedlimit at the location corresponding to the geographic location where thetelematics data was sampled, a comparison between the speed of computingdevice 300 and the posted or other speed limit data (such as acomparison between mobile device or vehicle speed with a map of, and/orknown, posted speed limit information) may indicate an anomalouscondition. Furthermore, because each vehicle may sample and/or broadcastgeographic location data and/or telematics data in real time, theanomalous conditions may be detected with minimal delay as they occur.

Although the speed of the vehicle may indicate an anomalous condition,aspects include other types of anomalous conditions being detected basedupon the telematics data. For example, an anomalous condition may beidentified when the one or more sensor metrics indicate that an airbaghas been deployed, and thus the vehicle associated with computing device300 has been in an accident. This may be determined, for example, via ananalysis of barometer readings matching a pressure versus time profileand/or via an indication from a dedicated airbag deployment sensorlocated in the vehicle.

To provide another example, an anomalous condition may be identifiedbased upon weather fluctuations associated with a rapid formation ofice, a sudden change from a paved to a dirt road, the triggering of acrash detection system, a threshold number of wheel slips and/or skidsbeing sampled within a threshold sampling period (indicating slipperyconditions), sensor metrics indicative of a rollover condition, a suddenstop (indicating a collision), a departure from the road (indicating apulled over vehicle), etc.

To provide an illustrative example based upon a traffic accident, if afirst vehicle carrying a first computing device 300 is slowed down dueto a traffic accident, then the one or more sensor metrics sampled bysensor array 326 will indicate the speed of the first vehicle over aperiod of time. If the one or more sensor metrics indicate that thefirst vehicle's speed is below the speed limit by some threshold amountor proportion thereof (e.g., 20 mph in a 55 mph zone, 50% of the postedspeed limit, etc.) and this is maintained for a threshold duration oftime (e.g., 30 seconds, one minute, two minutes, etc.) then controller340 may, upon execution of anomalous condition detection routine 358,conclude that an anomalous condition has been detected. This anomalouscondition may also be correlated to the geographic location associatedwith the geographic location data due to synchronization between thegeographic location data and the sampled telematics data.

Further continuing this example, upon determination of the anomalouscondition, alert notification application 346 may broadcast anotification indicating the detected anomalous condition, the telematicsdata, and/or the geographic location data associated with the detectedanomalous condition. In one aspect, a second vehicle equipped with asecond computing device 300 may receive this data and further determinewhether the anomalous condition is relevant based upon the geographicrelationship between the first and second devices, which is furtherdiscussed below. If the anomalous condition is relevant, then the secondcomputing device 300 may generate an alert indicating the anomalouscondition.

To provide another example by modifying the details of the previous one,aspects may include computing device 300 broadcasting telematics dataand/or geographic location data but not notification data. In accordancewith such aspects, upon being received by a second computing device 300(e.g., a mobile computing device in a second vehicle, an externalcomputing device, a smart infrastructure component, etc.) the secondcomputing device 300 may determine the relevance of the anomalouscondition based upon the geographic relationship between itself and thefirst computing device 300.

If the second computing device 300 determines that an anomalouscondition, even if present, would be irrelevant or inapplicable basedupon the distance between these devices, the second computing device 300may ignore the telematics data, thereby saving processing power andbattery life. However, if the second computing device 300 determinesthat the geographic location data indicates a potentially relevantanomalous condition, the second computing device 300 may further processthe telematics data and take the appropriate relevant action if ananomalous condition is found (e.g., issue an alert notification,generate an alert, display a warning message, etc.).

To provide yet another example by further modifying the details in theprevious two, aspects may include computing device 300 broadcasting thetelematics data and geographic location data to an external computingdevice (e.g., to external computing device 206 via network 201, as shownin FIG. 2). In addition, the second computing device 300 associated withthe second vehicle may likewise broadcast telematics data and geographiclocation data to the external computing device. In accordance with suchaspects, the external computing device may determine whether ananomalous condition exists and is relevant to each of the first andsecond devices 300 based upon a geographic relationship between thefirst and second devices 300. When relevant, external computing devicemay be configured to send alert notifications to the first and/or seconddevices 300, which may include any suitable type of communications suchas push notifications, a short messaging service (SMS) message, anemail, a notification that used in conjunction with the OS running oneach receptive computing device 300, etc. Upon receiving thenotification from the external computing device, the first and/or secondcomputing device 300 may generate an alert indicating a description ofthe anomalous condition and/or its location.

The geographic relationship between two or more devices 300 may beutilized in several ways to determine the relevance of the anomalouscondition. For instance, current speed, location, route, destination,and/or direction of travel of a first vehicle (collecting and/orassociated with the telematics data) may be individually or collectivelycompared with current speed, location, route, destination, and/ordirection of travel of a second vehicle traveling on the road. As oneexample of the geographic relationship, a first vehicle location (andassociated with a travel or traffic event) may be compared with a secondvehicle location, current route, and/or destination to determine whetherthe second vehicle should divert course or slow down to alleviate therisk of the second vehicle being involved in a collision or a trafficjam (as a result of the travel or traffic event that is identified bythe telematics data).

As another example of the geographic relationship, a radius from onevehicle or a line-of-sight distance between vehicles may be utilized andcompared to a threshold distance. For example, if computing device 300is implemented as an external computing device and determines aline-of-sight distance between a first and second vehicle to be lessthan a threshold distance (e.g., a half mile, one mile, etc.), then theexternal computing device may issue an alert notification to bothvehicles. In this way, an external computing device may act as an alertmanagement device, processing data and sending notifications to thosedevices for which a detected anomalous condition is relevant.

In another example of the geographic relationship, the geographiclocation data may be correlated with a map database to associate theanomalous condition with a road and to determine the relevance of theanomalous condition based upon other vehicles sharing the road. The mapdatabase may be stored, for example, in a suitable portion of computingdevice 300 (e.g., data storage 360) or retrieved via communications withone or more external computing devices. To provide an illustrativeexample, a computing device 300 may be implemented as an externalcomputing device. The external computing device may determine, fromtelematics data and geographic location data received from a firstcomputing device 300, that a first vehicle is located on a highway at acertain geographic location. If the external computing device determinesthat a second computing device 300 in a vehicle travelling on the samehighway is within a threshold distance approaching the first vehicle,then the external computing device may issue an alert notification tothe second vehicle.

In yet other aspects, the geographic location data may be correlatedwith a geofence database to determine the relevance of the anomalouscondition based upon whether other vehicles are located inside thegeofence. The geofence database may be stored, for example, in asuitable portion of computing device 300 (e.g., data storage 360) orretrieved via communications with one or more external computingdevices. To provide another illustrative example, a computing device 300may be implemented as an external computing device. The externalcomputing device may determine, from telematics data and geographiclocation data received from a first computing device 300, that a firstvehicle is located on a highway at a certain geographic location. Theexternal computing device may calculate a geofence having a shapesubstantially matching the road upon which the first vehicle istravelling.

The geofence may be calculated as having any suitable shape such thatthe appropriate vehicles are notified of the detected anomalouscondition. For example, the geofence shape may follow the contours ofthe road and extend ahead of the first vehicle and behind the firstvehicle some threshold distances, which may be the same or differentthan one another. To provide another example, the geofence shape mayinclude other arterial roads that feed into the road upon which thefirst vehicle is travelling, roads anticipated to be impacted by theanomalous condition, etc.

In some aspects, the geofence may be adjusted or modified based upon achange in the location of computing device 300. This change may betriggered using any suitable data indicative of potentially increasingroad densities, such as changes in population density data associatedwith the geographic location of the computing device 300, changes in atype of road upon which computing device 300 is determined to betravelling, etc.

For example, a first computing device 300 may be implemented as a mobilecomputing device and associated with a first vehicle, while a secondcomputing device 300 may be implemented as an external computing device.The external computing device may calculate an initial geofence as athreshold distance radius centered about the first vehicle's location.The geographic location data corresponding to the first vehicle'slocation may have associated population density data that is correlatedwith locally stored data or data retrieved by the external computingdevice. When the population density data surpasses a threshold densityvalue, the shape of the geofence may be adjusted from the radiuscentered about the first vehicle's location to include only the roadupon which the first vehicle is travelling. In this way, computingdevice 300 may prevent false alert notifications from being sent toother vehicles travelling in close proximity to the first vehicle, buton nearby roads unaffected by the detected anomalous condition.

To provide another illustrative example, as previously discussed, one ormore cameras integrated as part of sensor array 326 may store imageand/or video data from a vantage point within a vehicle in which mobilecomputing device 300 is mounted to act as a dashboard camera. Inaccordance with such aspects, anomalous condition detection routine 358may include instructions, that when executed by controller 340,facilitate the analysis of the image and/or video data to detect one ormore anomalous conditions that may pose an immediate threat to thedriver. These anomalous objects may also be identified as a trafficevent, as previously discussed. This analysis may be performed inaccordance with any suitable object recognition and/or image analysis todetect images in the path of the vehicle, such as animals, pedestrians,other vehicles, potholes, etc.

Upon detecting an anomalous object, mobile computing device 300 mayissue the appropriate alert via display 316 and/or sound an alarm viaspeaker/microphone 322. Additionally or alternatively, mobile computingdevice 300 may, upon detecting an anomaly, broadcast one or more signalsvia communication unit 330, which are received directly or indirectly byother mobile computing devices. Again, these other mobile computingdevices may then generate alert notifications locally when close to thegeographic location of mobile computing device 300 where the signal wasbroadcasted. Aspects in which the detected anomalous condition is sharedin this manner may be particularly useful when the identified anomaly islikely to threaten other drivers using the same road, such as potholesor objects blocking the roadway, for example.

Although FIG. 3 depicts controller 340 as including one program memory302, one MP 306, and one RAM 308, controller 340 may include anysuitable number of program memory 302, MP 306, and RAM 308. Furthermore,although FIG. 3 depicts controller 340 as having a single I/O interface310, controller 340 may include any suitable number and/or types of I/Ointerfaces 310. In various aspects, controller 340 may implement RAM(s)308 and program memories 302 as any suitable type of memory, such asnon-transitory computer readable memories, semiconductor memories,magnetically readable memories, and/or optically readable memories, forexample.

Exemplary Screenshots of an Alert Notification Application

FIG. 4A illustrates an example mobile computing device home screen 400in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure. Invarious aspects, home screen 400 is displayed on a mobile computingdevice, such as mobile computing device 110 or mobile computing devices204.1-204.2, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively. In accordance withsuch aspects, home screen 400 may be displayed as part of a devicedisplay, such as display 316, for example, as shown in FIG. 3.

Home screen 400 may be displayed as a default screen on a mobilecomputing device. In one embodiment, home screen 400 may facilitate alock screen of a mobile computing device. Lock screens may be typicallydisplayed when a user locks the mobile computing device to enter a lockscreen mode (e.g., by pressing a physical button). Additionally oralternatively, the mobile computing device may revert to the lock screenwhen inactive for a threshold period of time. The lock screen prevents auser from using a portion of the mobile computing device functionality.For example, a lock screen might prevent a mobile computing device in auser's pocket from accidentally sending SMS messages or phone calls.

Although lock screens typically limit the functionality of the devicewhen enabled, it may be desirable for certain applications to provide auser with some functionality via the lock screen. For example, if themobile computing device is used to play music, a lock screen overlaycould allow a user to change tracks, pause a track, or adjust the volumelevel without unlocking the phone. In accordance with some aspects,alert notification 402 may be displayed as part of a home screen and/orlock screen of a mobile computing device, as shown in FIG. 4A.

Although alert notification 402 may be displayed as part of home screen400, other aspects include alert notification 402 being displayed aspart of a notification system separate from home screen 400. Forexample, some mobile phone operating systems (e.g., the Android OS)implement a universal “pull-down” notification system where all incomingnotifications are displayed. In these notification systems, newnotifications are initially previewed in a notification bar at the topof the phone display, and a user may pull down the notification bar(e.g., by using a swiping gesture) to access the details of any receivednotifications. In one aspect, alert notification 402 may be displayed aspart of a notification bar type notification.

As previously discussed with reference to FIG. 3, a device running thealert notification application may be configured to determine whether ananomalous condition has been detected and/or to receive alertnotifications sent by other devices that have done so. In accordancewith such aspects, alert notification 402 is a block diagramrepresentation of what may be generated upon detection of an anomalouscondition and/or receiving an indication that an anomalous condition hasbeen detected. Alert notification 402 may be implemented as any suitablegraphic, label, text, description, etc., to convey this to a user. Inone embodiment, alert notification 402 may be interactive and mayfacilitate a user selection via an appropriate gesture (e.g., swiping,tapping, etc.).

FIG. 4B illustrates an example mobile computing device applicationscreen 450 in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the presentdisclosure. In various aspects, application screen 450 may be displayedon a mobile computing device, such as mobile computing device 110 ormobile computing devices 204.1-204.2, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2,respectively. In accordance with such aspects, application screen 450may be displayed as part of a device display, such as display 316, forexample, as shown in FIG. 3.

In one aspect, application screen 450 may be displayed upon a userselecting alert notification 402 from home screen 400. Applicationscreen 450 may include an alert description 452 and an alert location454. Alert description 452 is a block diagram representation of one ormore descriptions of the alerts related to the detected anomalouscondition. Alert description 452 may be implemented as any suitablegraphic, label, text, description, etc., to convey this to a user. Forexample, alert description 452 may include a text description such as“slow traffic ahead,” “traffic at standstill ahead,” “unpaved roadahead,” “potential icy conditions ahead,” “pulled over vehicle ahead,”etc.

Alert location 454 is a block diagram representation of one or moredescriptions of the location of the anomalous condition. Alert location454 may be implemented as any suitable graphic, label, text,description, etc., to convey this to a user. For example, alert location454 may include a directional compass indicating a direction towards theanomalous condition from the mobile computing device displayingapplication screen 450. To provide additional examples, alert location454 may include a distance to the anomalous condition, a map overlaidwith the location of the mobile computing device displaying applicationscreen 450 to indicate the position of the mobile computing device inrelation to the anomalous condition, the threshold distances and/orgeofences used to determine the relevance of the anomalous condition,etc.

Exemplary Method of Generating Alert Notifications

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary method 500 of generating, displaying,and/or sending an alert based upon telematics data in accordance with anexemplary aspect of the present disclosure. In the present aspect, themethod 500 may be implemented by any suitable computing device (e.g.,mobile computing devices 204.1 and 204.2, external computing device 206,and smart infrastructure component 208, as shown in FIG. 2). In oneaspect, the method 500 may be performed by one or more processors,applications, and/or routines, such as any suitable portion ofcontroller 340, software applications 344, and/or software routines 352,for example, as shown in FIG. 3.

The method 500 may start when one or more processors receive geographiclocation data and/or telematics data from a first and a secondrespective vehicle (block 502). The geographic location data mayinclude, for example, latitude and longitude coordinates obtained by amobile computing device and/or an on-board computer located within eachvehicle. The telematics data may include, for example, one or moresensor metrics indicative of a motion of each vehicle, timestamp data,road type data, population density data, and any other suitable dataindicative of a status of the device from which it is received, aspreviously discussed with reference to FIG. 3 (block 502). Thegeographic location data and/or telematics data may be generated, forexample, by one or more mobile computing devices and/or on-boardcomputers located within, or otherwise associated with, the first andsecond vehicles.

The method 500 may include one or more processors determining whether ananomalous condition is present at the location of the first or thesecond vehicle based upon the telematics data received from eachrespective vehicle (block 504). The determination may be made, forexample, when one or more sensor metrics, included in the telematicsdata, indicates that a vehicle is moving at a slower rate of speed, thatan airbag has been deployed, that a crash has occurred, etc. (block504). If the one or more processors determine that an anomalouscondition is present, then method 500 may continue (block 506).Otherwise, the method 500 may revert to receiving geographic locationdata and/or telematics data (block 502).

The method 500 may include one or more processors calculating ageographic relationship between the first and the second vehicle (block506). This geographic relationship may be a geofence around the first orthe second vehicle, a radius around the first or the second vehiclerepresenting a threshold distance, etc. (block 506).

The method 500 may include one or more processors determining whetherthe geographic relationship satisfies one or more conditions (block508). These conditions may include, for example, one of the vehiclesbeing within the radius, the threshold distance, and/or the geofence(block 508) that was calculated as a geographic relationship between thefirst and the second vehicles (block 506). Other conditions may include,for example, determining whether a location of traffic event (asdetermined from the telematics data associated with one vehicle) may bein the vicinity or pre-determined threshold distance of the currentlocation, route, and/or destination another vehicle traveling on theroad. Other geographical relationships may be determined, includingthose discussed elsewhere herein.

If the one or more conditions are satisfied, then the method 500 maycontinue (block 510). Otherwise, the method 500 reverts to receivinggeographic location data and/or telematics data (block 502).

The method 500 may include one or more processors generating,displaying, and/or sending an alert indicative of the anomalouscondition (block 510). In various aspects, the method 500 may includedifferent acts that may be performed based upon the type of computingdevice. For example, if method 500 is performed by a mobile computingdevice, the method 500 may include generating and displaying the alert,as previously discussed with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B (block 510).However, if the method 500 is performed by a smart infrastructurecomponent, the method 500 may include displaying a message, aspreviously discussed with reference to FIG. 2 (block 510). To provideyet another example, if the method 500 is performed by an externalcomputing device, then the method 500 may include one or more processorssending an alert notification to another device, as previously discussedwith reference to FIG. 2 (block 510).

The method 500 may include additional, fewer, or alternate actions,including those discussed elsewhere herein. For instance, in addition togenerating alerts, the method may include generating, sending,receiving, and/or displaying alternate routes to destinations that avoidthe traffic event or anomalous condition.

Exemplary Telematics Generation and Alert Issuance Via Cradled MobileComputing Device

FIG. 6 illustrates a computer-implemented method 600 for broadcastingalerts and/or telematics data via a cradled mobile computing device tofacilitate safer vehicle travel. In the present aspect, method 600 maybe implemented by any suitable computing device (e.g., mobile computingdevice 300, as shown in FIG. 1). The method may include additional,less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein,and/or may be implemented via one or more local or remote processors, orvia computer-executable instructions stored on non-transitorycomputer-readable medium or media. For example, in the present aspect,method 600 may be performed by one or more processors, applications,and/or routines, such as controller 340 executing instructions in one ormore modules stored in program memory 302, for example, as shown in FIG.3.

The method 600 may include a user cradling a mobile computing device(e.g., mobile computing device 300) within a vehicle (block 602). Forinstance, a mobile computing device may be placed within a dashboardmounted cradle or other type of mount (block 602).

The method 600 may include one or more processors capturing image,audio, or other data via the mobile device as the vehicle moves (block604). For example, the mobile computing device may be mounted in amanner so as to capture image, audio, and/or other data regardingvarious objects (e.g., vehicles, animals, pedestrians, etc.) located infront of, behind, outside of, or around the vehicle (block 604). Again,the capture of various image, audio, and/or video data may befacilitated, for example, by a Telematics App (e.g., alert notificationapplication 346) which is stored on a mobile computing device memoryunit and executed by a mobile computing device processor.

The method 600 may include one or more processors performing imageanalysis of captured images (block 606). The analyzed images mayinclude, for example, single images captured based upon a particularsampling rate and/or one or more frames of video captured while thevehicle is moving (block 606). Again, the images may be analyzed inaccordance with any suitable number and/or type of image recognitionand/or object recognition techniques (block 606).

The method 600 may include one or more processors determining whetherthe analyzed images (block 606) constitute an anomaly (block 608). Thismay include, for example alert notification application 346 facilitatingthe analysis of the image data using any suitable image recognitionand/or object recognition techniques to identify objects, determinetheir size and/or shape, and/or to determine the distance betweenidentified objects and the vehicle in which the mobile computing deviceis located. Based upon an object's size, shape, and/or distance, adetermination may be made whether each object, which has been identifiedvia image analysis, poses a threat or constitutes an anomaly thatwarrants generating an alert (block 608). For example, if a detectedobject is within a pre-determined distance of the vehicle, is largerthan a minimum threshold size, matches a specific profile shapecorresponding to a known hazard, etc., then it may be determined thatthe analyzed image includes an anomaly (block 608).

To provide an illustrative example, if an object recognition analysis isperformed on the images (block 606) and this results in theidentification of a matched profile corresponding to the shape and sizeof a herd of deer (or a single deer), then such a hazard may beappropriately identified (block 608).

The method 600 may include one or more processors generating an alertand/or recommendation regarding the identified anomaly (block 610). Inan aspect, the type of alert and/or recommendation generated may bebased upon the type of anomaly that has been identified (block 608).

For example, if one or more deer are identified (block 608), aspectsinclude the mobile computing device displaying an indication to thedriver of the vehicle recommending that the driver slow down, changelanes, etc. (block 610). To provide another example, if the images areanalyzed and match a profile of the shape and size of a pedestrian(e.g., in a cross walk), the mobile computing device may display anindication to the driver of the vehicle recommending to stop the vehicle(block 610). Aspects include audible or visual alerts being additionallyor alternatively generated by the mobile computing device, such as “DeerAlert,” “Pedestrian Alert,” etc. (block 610).

In some aspects, the generated alert and/or recommendation (block 610)may be provided on the mobile computing device locally and notbroadcasted or otherwise shared with other drivers (block 610). However,in other aspects, method 600 may include one or more processorsbroadcasting the alert and/or broadcasting the telematics data, whichmay include the images, audio, and/or video captured by the mobilecomputing device.

In accordance with aspects in which the mobile computing devicebroadcasts alerts and/or telematics data, the alert may, onceidentified, be broadcasted in accordance with any suitable communicationprotocol to any suitable number and/or type of devices (block 612).Similarly, any collected telematics data may be broadcasted in anysuitable communication protocol to any suitable number and/or type ofdevices. Aspects include the alert (block 612) and the telematics data(block 614) being broadcasted simultaneously, separately, and/or as partof the same data transmission.

When both alerts and telematics data are broadcasted, aspects includethese transmissions including a suitable identifier so that alerts maybe correlated with the telematics data when received by another device.For example, upon detecting particular types of hazards that are likelyto impact other drivers at the same location, the mobile computingdevice may generate and broadcast an alert indicating the type andseverity of the anomaly as well as telematics data including thelocation of the anomaly to other nearby vehicles, to an externalcomputing device (e.g., external computing device 206), and/or to one ormore infrastructure components (e.g., smart infrastructure).

To provide an illustrative example with reference to FIG. 2, mobilecomputing device 204.1, which is located in vehicle 202.1, may activelycapture images while vehicle 202.1 is being driven. As vehicle 202.1approaches an area in which a recent rock slide has blocked part of theroad, mobile computing device 204.1 may determine, based upon objectrecognition being performed on the captured images in front of vehicle202.1, that a lane is partially blocked, and issue an audible and/orvisual alert to the driver of vehicle 202.1 to avoid the hazard.

Continuing this example, aspects include mobile computing device 204.1generating and transmitting an alert, which may include a description ofwhat is impacted by the hazard (e.g., rightmost lane blocked) and thetype of hazard (e.g., a rock slide), while broadcasting telematics dataindicating the location of the hazard (e.g., geographic coordinates suchas latitude and longitude). This data may be received by another device,such as mobile computing device 204.2, for example. When vehicle 202.2is within a threshold distance of the location of the hazard asspecified by the telematics data, aspects include mobile computingdevice 204.2 likewise issuing an audible and/or visual alert to thedriver of vehicle 202.2 to avoid the same hazard.

An insurance provider remote server may adjust an insurance premium ordiscount based upon an insured having the foregoing functionality,and/or amount that the insured employs or uses that functionality. Forinstance, the insurance provider remote server may receive thetelematics data from an insured mobile computing device, and thetelematics data may include an indication of the level of usage of thealert, recommendation, and/or other functionality discussed herein.

Exemplary Method of Sending Alert Notifications

In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for sending alertsindicative of anomalous conditions may be provided. A method mayinclude: (1) receiving, by one or more processors, first and secondgeographic location data indicative of a geographic location of a firstand a second vehicle, respectively; (2) receiving, by one or moreprocessors, first and second telematics data indicative of a motion ofthe first and the second vehicle, respectively; (3) determining, by oneor more processors, whether an anomalous condition (such as vehicleaccident, traffic event, traffic jam, congestion, construction, othertravel event, etc.) is present at the geographic location of the firstvehicle based upon the first telematics data; (4) calculating, by one ormore processors, a geographic relationship between the first vehicle andthe second vehicle based upon the first and the second geographiclocation data; and/or (5) sending, by one or more processors, an alertindicative of the anomalous condition (and/or alternate route avoidingthe anomalous condition) to the second vehicle when (i) the one or moreprocessors determine that the anomalous condition is present at thegeographic location of the first vehicle, and/or (ii) the geographicrelationship between the first and second vehicles satisfies a thresholddistance condition such that the risk of an accident or collisioninvolving the second vehicle due to the anomalous condition isalleviated. The threshold condition may include, for example, the secondvehicle and the first vehicle being within a threshold distance of oneanother.

Additionally or alternatively, (1) the first and second geographiclocation data may be received via a first and a second mobile computingdevice travelling within the first and the second vehicle, respectively;and/or (2) the first and second telematics data may be received via thefirst and the second mobile computing device, respectively.

The first and/or second telematics data may include data, for example,regarding acceleration, braking, gyroscope, compass heading, turning,and speed information for the first and the second vehicle,respectively. In various aspects, the telematics data may include (1) atimestamp; (2) one or more sensor metrics indicative of braking motionof the first vehicle; (3) one or more sensor metrics indicative ofacceleration motion of the first vehicle; (4) one or more sensor metricsindicative of cornering motion of the first vehicle; (5) one or moresensor metrics indicative of a direction of the first vehicle; (6) oneor more sensor metrics indicative of a usage of the first mobilecomputing device; (7) a battery level associated with the first mobilecomputing device; and/or (8) a usage indicator associated with the firstmobile computing device.

Furthermore, the determination of whether the anomalous condition ispresent at the geographic location of the first vehicle may includedetermining whether a speed of the first vehicle is less than athreshold speed. Additionally or alternatively, the method may includecalculating, by one or more processors, a geofenced area around thefirst vehicle, and the threshold distance condition may be satisfiedwhen the second vehicle is located within the geofenced area and/or whenthe second vehicle is within a threshold distance of the first vehicle.

The method may also include determining, by one or more processors, apopulation density corresponding to the geographic location of the firstvehicle based upon the first telematics data, and/or adjusting, by oneor more processors, the geofenced area based upon the populationdensity.

Additionally, the method may include identifying an insured customerhaving a mobile computing device or a vehicle configured with aTelematics Application. The mobile computing device and/or the vehiclemay use the Telematics Application to collect telematics data.Additionally or alternatively, the Telematics Application may have riskmitigation and/or prevention functionality that utilizes telematics dataof the vehicle or other vehicles. The method may include adjusting aninsurance policy, premium, or discount for the insured customer basedupon the insured customer having a mobile computing device or a vehicleequipped with the Telematics Application or risk mitigation orprevention functionality that utilizes the telematics data

Additionally or alternatively, once the insurance customer isidentified, the method may include monitoring a usage amount associatedwith the insured customer driving an insured vehicle while thetelematics data-based risk mitigation or prevention functionality isbeing performed on the mobile computing device or vehicle and adjustingan insurance policy, premium, or discount for the insured customer basedupon the usage amount.

The method may include generating an alternate route for a vehicle thatavoids the anomalous condition by comparing the location (e.g., GPSlocation) of the anomalous condition with the current GPS or otherlocation, current route, and/or current destination of the vehicle. Themethod may include displaying the alternate route to a driver of thevehicle, such as on a navigation unit of the vehicle and/or navigationor map-based application of a mobile device associated with the driver.The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, includingthose discussed elsewhere herein.

Exemplary Non-Transitory Computer Readable Medium

In another aspect, a non-transitory, tangible computer-readable mediumstoring machine readable instructions for generating alerts is describedthat, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: (1) receivefirst and second geographic location data indicative of a geographiclocation of a first and a second vehicle, respectively; (2) receivefirst and second telematics data indicative of a motion of the first andthe second vehicle, respectively; (3) determine whether an anomalouscondition is present at the geographic location of the first vehiclebased upon the first telematics data; (4) calculate a geographicrelationship between the first vehicle and the second vehicle based uponthe first and the second geographic location data; and/or (5) send analert indicative of the anomalous condition to the second vehicle when(i) the one or more processors determine that the anomalous condition ispresent at the geographic location of the first vehicle, and/or (ii) thegeographic relationship between the first and second vehicles satisfiesa threshold distance condition to alleviate risk of vehicle collision oraccident due for the second vehicle to the anomalous condition. Thethreshold condition may include, for example, the second vehicle and thefirst vehicle being within a threshold distance of one another. Thecomputer-readable instructions may include additional, less, oralternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

For instance, the first and second geographic location data may bereceived from a first and a second mobile computing device travellingwithin the first and the second vehicle, respectively, while the firstand second telematics data may also be received from the first and thesecond mobile computing device, respectively.

In various aspects, the telematics data may include data, for example,regarding acceleration, braking, gyroscope, compass heading, turning,and speed information for the first and the second vehicle,respectively. In some embodiments, the telematics data may include (1) atimestamp; (2) one or more sensor metrics indicative of braking motionof the first vehicle; (3) one or more sensor metrics indicative ofacceleration motion of the first vehicle; (4) one or more sensor metricsindicative of cornering motion of the first vehicle; (5) one or moresensor metrics indicative of a direction of the first vehicle; (6) oneor more sensor metrics indicative of a usage of the first mobilecomputing device; (7) a battery level associated with the first mobilecomputing device; and/or (8) a usage indicator associated with the firstmobile computing device.

Furthermore, the non-transitory media may further include instructionsthat, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to determinewhether the anomalous condition is present at the geographic location ofthe first vehicle by determining whether a speed of the first vehicle isless than a threshold speed. Additionally or alternatively, thenon-transitory media may further include instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to calculate a geofencedarea around the first vehicle, and the threshold distance condition maybe satisfied when the second vehicle is located within the geofencedarea and/or when the second vehicle is within a threshold distance ofthe first vehicle.

The non-transitory media may further include instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to determine a populationdensity corresponding to the geographic location of the first vehiclebased upon the first telematics data and to adjust the geofenced areabased upon the population density.

Additionally, the non-transitory media may further include instructionsthat, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to identify aninsured customer having a mobile computing device or a vehicleconfigured with a Telematics Application. The mobile computing deviceand/or the vehicle may use the Telematics Application to collecttelematics data. Additionally or alternatively, and the TelematicsApplication may have risk mitigation and/or prevention functionalitythat utilizes telematics data of the vehicle or other vehicles. Thenon-transitory media may further include instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to adjust an insurancepolicy, premium, or discount for the insured customer based upon theinsured customer having a mobile computing device or a vehicle equippedwith the Telematics Application or risk mitigation or preventionfunctionality that utilizes the telematics data.

Additionally or alternatively, once the insurance customer isidentified, the non-transitory media may further include instructionsthat, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to monitor ausage amount associated with the insured customer driving an insuredvehicle while the telematics data-based risk mitigation or preventionfunctionality is being performed on the mobile computing device orvehicle, and adjusting an insurance policy, premium, or discount for theinsured customer based upon the usage amount.

Exemplary Mobile Computing Device

In yet another aspect, a first mobile computing device is described thatmay be located within a first vehicle and include (1) a communicationunit configured to receive (i) telematics data from a second mobilecomputing device indicative of a motion of a second vehicle in which thesecond mobile computing device is located, and/or (ii) geographiclocation data indicative of a location of the second vehicle; and/or (2)a processor configured to: (i) determine whether an anomalous trafficcondition is present at the geographic location of the second vehiclebased upon the geographic location data; (ii) determine a geographiclocation of the first mobile computing device; (iii) calculate ageographic relationship between the first vehicle and the second vehiclebased upon the geographic location data and the geographic location ofthe first mobile computing device; and/or (iv) generate an alertindicative of the anomalous traffic condition when the processordetermines that the anomalous condition is present at the geographiclocation of the second vehicle, and/or the geographic relationshipbetween the first and second vehicles satisfies a threshold distancecondition to facilitate safer driving, warning drivers of the anomalouscondition, and/or reducing a risk of vehicle collisions. The thresholdcondition may include, for example, the second vehicle and the firstvehicle being within a threshold distance of one another. The mobilecomputing device may include additional, less, or alternatefunctionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

For instance, the telematics data and/or the geographic location datamay be received in accordance with (1) peer-to-peer communicationsbetween the first mobile computing device and the second mobilecomputing device; and/or (2) network communications between the firstmobile computing device and the second mobile computing device via anexternal computing device. Furthermore, in various aspects, thetelematics data may include data, for example, regarding acceleration,braking, gyroscope, compass heading, turning, and speed information forthe first and the second vehicle, respectively. In various aspects, thetelematics data may include (1) a timestamp; (2) one or more sensormetrics indicative of braking motion of the first vehicle; (3) one ormore sensor metrics indicative of acceleration motion of the firstvehicle; (4) one or more sensor metrics indicative of cornering motionof the first vehicle; (5) one or more sensor metrics indicative of adirection of the first vehicle; (6) one or more sensor metricsindicative of a usage of the first mobile computing device; (7) abattery level associated with the first mobile computing device; and/or(8) a usage indicator associated with the first mobile computing device.

Additionally or alternatively, the processor of the first mobilecomputing device may be configured to determine whether the anomaloustraffic condition is present at the geographic location of the firstvehicle based upon whether a speed of the first vehicle is less than athreshold speed. Still further, the processor of the first mobilecomputing device may be further configured to calculate a geofenced areaaround the second vehicle, and the threshold distance condition may besatisfied when the second vehicle is located within the geofenced area.The threshold distance condition may also be satisfied when the secondvehicle is within a threshold distance of the first vehicle, regardlessof whether a geofence is calculated. When a geofence is calculated, theprocessor of the first mobile computing device may also be configured todetermine a population density corresponding to the geographic locationof the second vehicle, and to adjust the geofenced area based upon thepopulation density.

Insurance Applications

As noted herein, the present embodiments may be used to adjust, update,and/or generate insurance policies. Insurance policies, such as auto,usage-based, home, and/or household insurance policies, may be adjusted,updated, and/or generated for insureds or potential customers that havemobile devices and/or vehicles that are equipped or configured with oneor more of the functionalities discussed herein.

For instance, insureds or family members may have mobile devices and/orvehicle that are configured to receive telematics data associated withother vehicles and/or abnormal road or travel conditions that otherdrivers are experiencing. The telematics may be received directly fromother vehicles, or indirectly from smart infrastructure and/or insuranceprovider remote servers. As a result, the insureds and/or their familymembers may be timely notified of traffic or travel events and then maytake alternate routes (or even not drive or delay driving) to lowertheir risk of getting in an accident due to the traffic or travelevents. An insurance provider may promote or reward such risk aversebehavior and/or safer driving with lower insurance premiums, rates,and/or increased discounts, such as for usage-based or other types ofauto insurance.

Furthermore, an insurance provider may promote or reward the use of oneor more aspects described herein with lower insurance premiums, rates,and/or increased discounts. For example, an insurer may providediscounts or other incentives upon an insured customer installing anapplication to their mobile computing device that enables the mobilecomputing device to broadcast telematics data and/or to generate alertnotifications based upon telematics data received from other devices.

Additionally or alternatively, an insurer may provide discounts or otherincentives upon an amount that an insured customer uses the telematicsapplication on their mobile computing device that enables the mobilecomputing device to broadcast telematics data and/or to generate alertnotifications based upon telematics data received from other devices.Such usage-based discounts or incentives may be based upon amount oftime of, or number of miles of, use or usage, e.g., an amount of time ormiles that the insured drove during a specific period with a TelematicsApp running or executing on their mobile device (which was locatedwithin the insured vehicle as it travels), the Telematics App configuredto collect and broadcast telematics data, and/or to receive telematicsdata from other vehicles or devices, and generate alerts orrecommendations based upon the data received.

Additional Considerations

With the foregoing, an insurance customer may opt-in to a rewards,insurance discount, or other type of program. After the insurancecustomer provides their affirmative consent, an insurance providertelematics application and/or remote server may collect telematicsand/or other data (including image or audio data) associated withinsured assets, including before, during, and/or after aninsurance-related event or vehicle collision. In return, risk aversedrivers, and/or vehicle owners may receive discounts or insurance costsavings related to auto, home, life, and other types of insurance fromthe insurance provider.

In one aspect, telematics data, and/or other data, including the typesof data discussed elsewhere herein, may be collected or received by aninsured's mobile device or smart vehicle, a Telematics App (includingthose discussed herein), and/or an insurance provider remote server,such as via direct or indirect wireless communication or datatransmission from a Telematics App running on the insured's mobiledevice, after the insured or customer affirmatively consents orotherwise opts-in to an insurance discount, reward, or other program.The insurance provider may then analyze the data received with thecustomer's permission to provide benefits to the customer. As a result,risk averse customers may receive insurance discounts or other insurancecost savings based upon data that reflects low risk driving behaviorand/or technology that mitigates or prevents risk to (i) insured assets,such as vehicles or even homes, and/or (ii) vehicle operators orpassengers.

Although the disclosure provides several examples in terms of twovehicles, two mobile computing devices, two on-board computers, etc.,aspects include any suitable number of mobile computing devices,vehicles, etc. For example, aspects include an external computing devicereceiving telematics data and/or geographic location data from a largenumber of mobile computing devices (e.g., 100 or more), and issuingalerts to those mobile computing devices in which the alerts arerelevant in accordance with the various techniques described herein.

Although the following text sets forth a detailed description ofnumerous different embodiments, it should be understood that the legalscope of the description is defined by the words of the claims set forthat the end of this patent and equivalents. The detailed description isto be construed as exemplary only and does not describe every possibleembodiment since describing every possible embodiment would beimpractical. Numerous alternative embodiments may be implemented, usingeither current technology or technology developed after the filing dateof this patent, which would still fall within the scope of the claims.

The following additional considerations apply to the foregoingdiscussion. Throughout this specification, plural instances mayimplement components, operations, or structures described as a singleinstance. Although individual operations of one or more methods areillustrated and described as separate operations, one or more of theindividual operations may be performed concurrently, and nothingrequires that the operations be performed in the order illustrated.Structures and functionality presented as separate components in exampleconfigurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component.Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single componentmay be implemented as separate components. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of thesubject matter herein.

Additionally, certain embodiments are described herein as includinglogic or a number of routines, subroutines, applications, orinstructions. These may constitute either software (e.g., code embodiedon a machine-readable medium or in a transmission signal) or hardware.In hardware, the routines, etc., are tangible units capable ofperforming certain operations and may be configured or arranged in acertain manner. In example embodiments, one or more computer systems(e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system) or one or morehardware modules of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a group ofprocessors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application orapplication portion) as a hardware module that operates to performcertain operations as described herein.

In various embodiments, a hardware module may be implementedmechanically or electronically. For example, a hardware module maycomprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured(e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a field programmable gatearray (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) toperform certain operations. A hardware module may also compriseprogrammable logic or circuitry (e.g., as encompassed within ageneral-purpose processor or other programmable processor) that istemporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. Itwill be appreciated that the decision to implement a hardware modulemechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or intemporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may bedriven by cost and time considerations.

Accordingly, the term “hardware module” should be understood toencompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physicallyconstructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarilyconfigured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or toperform certain operations described herein. Considering embodiments inwhich hardware modules are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed),each of the hardware modules need not be configured or instantiated atany one instance in time. For example, where the hardware modulescomprise a general-purpose processor configured using software, thegeneral-purpose processor may be configured as respective differenthardware modules at different times. Software may accordingly configurea processor, for example, to constitute a particular hardware module atone instance of time and to constitute a different hardware module at adifferent instance of time.

Hardware modules may provide information to, and receive informationfrom, other hardware modules. Accordingly, the described hardwaremodules may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Where multipleof such hardware modules exist contemporaneously, communications may beachieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuitsand buses) that connect the hardware modules. In embodiments in whichmultiple hardware modules are configured or instantiated at differenttimes, communications between such hardware modules may be achieved, forexample, through the storage and retrieval of information in memorystructures to which the multiple hardware modules have access. Forexample, one hardware module may perform an operation and store theoutput of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware module may then, at a latertime, access the memory device to retrieve and process the storedoutput. Hardware modules may also initiate communications with input oroutput devices, and may operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation).

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modulesthat operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modulesreferred to herein may, in some example embodiments, compriseprocessor-implemented modules.

Similarly, the methods or routines described herein may be at leastpartially processor-implemented. For example, at least some of theoperations of a method may be performed by one or more processors orprocessor-implemented hardware modules. The performance of certain ofthe operations may be distributed among the one or more processors, notonly residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number ofmachines. In some example embodiments, the processor or processors maybe located in a single location (e.g., within a home environment, anoffice environment or as a server farm), while in other embodiments theprocessors may be distributed across a number of locations.

The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed amongthe one or more processors, not only residing within a single machine,but deployed across a number of machines. In some example embodiments,the one or more processors or processor-implemented modules may belocated in a single geographic location (e.g., within a homeenvironment, an office environment, or a server farm). In other exampleembodiments, the one or more processors or processor-implemented modulesmay be distributed across a number of geographic locations.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, discussions herein using wordssuch as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,”“presenting,” “displaying,” or the like may refer to actions orprocesses of a machine (e.g., a computer) that manipulates or transformsdata represented as physical (e.g., electronic, magnetic, or optical)quantities within one or more memories (e.g., volatile memory,non-volatile memory, or a combination thereof), registers, or othermachine components that receive, store, transmit, or displayinformation.

As used herein any reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment.

Some embodiments may be described using the expression “coupled” and“connected” along with their derivatives. For example, some embodimentsmay be described using the term “coupled” to indicate that two or moreelements are in direct physical or electrical contact. The term“coupled,” however, may also mean that two or more elements are not indirect contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interactwith each other. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,”“including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is notnecessarily limited to only those elements but may include otherelements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method,article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary,“or” refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example,a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true(or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or notpresent) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (orpresent).

In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed to describe elementsand components of the embodiments herein. This is done merely forconvenience and to give a general sense of the description. Thisdescription, and the claims that follow, should be read to include oneor at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it isobvious that it is meant otherwise.

The patent claims at the end of this patent application are not intendedto be construed under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) unless traditionalmeans-plus-function language is expressly recited, such as “means for”or “step for” language being explicitly recited in the claim(s).

This detailed description is to be construed as exemplary only and doesnot describe every possible embodiment, as describing every possibleembodiment would be impractical, if not impossible. One may be implementnumerous alternate embodiments, using either current technology ortechnology developed after the filing date of this application.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:receiving, by one or more processors, telematics data from a first and asecond vehicle; and in response to the one or more processorsdetermining, based upon the telematics data, that (i) an anomalouscondition is present at the geographic location of the first vehicle,and (ii) a calculated geographic relationship between the first and thesecond vehicle satisfies a threshold distance condition, wirelesslytransmitting, by the one or more processors, an alert indicative of theanomalous condition to a computing device associated with the secondvehicle, wherein the alert alleviates a risk of the second vehicleexperiencing a physical vehicle collision as a result of the anomalouscondition.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein theact of receiving the telematics data comprises: receiving firsttelematics data from a first mobile computing device that is travellingwithin the first vehicle; and receiving second telematics data from asecond mobile computing device that is travelling within the secondvehicle.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein thetelematics data includes data selected from one or more of, and notlimited to all of: a timestamp; one or more sensor metrics indicative ofbraking motion of the first vehicle; one or more sensor metricsindicative of acceleration motion of the first vehicle; one or moresensor metrics indicative of cornering motion of the first vehicle; andone or more sensor metrics indicative of a direction of the firstvehicle.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the actof determining whether an anomalous condition is present at thegeographic location of the first vehicle comprises: determining whethera speed of the first vehicle is less than a threshold speed.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: calculating,by one or more processors, a geofence around the first vehicle, andwherein the calculated geographic relationship between the first and thesecond vehicle satisfies the threshold distance condition when thesecond vehicle is located within the geofence around the first vehicle.6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:adjusting, by one or more processors, the threshold distance conditionbased upon a calculated population density corresponding to thegeographic location of the first vehicle or the second vehicle.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the calculatedgeographic relationship between the first and the second vehiclesatisfies the threshold distance condition when the second vehicle islocated less than a threshold distance from the first vehicle.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computing deviceassociated with the second vehicle is a mobile computing device, themethod further comprising: identifying, by one or more processors, aninsured customer associated with the mobile computing device; andadjusting, by one or more processors, an insurance policy, premium, ordiscount for the insured customer based upon the mobile computing devicebeing configured to receive transmitted alerts indicative of anomalousconditions.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein thecomputing device associated with the second vehicle is a mobilecomputing device, the method further comprising: identifying, by one ormore processors, an insured customer associated with the mobilecomputing device; monitoring, by one or more processors, a usage amountassociated with the insured customer driving the second vehicle whilethe mobile computing device is configured to receive transmitted alertsindicative of anomalous conditions; and adjusting, by one or moreprocessors, an insurance policy, premium, or discount for the insuredcustomer based upon the usage amount.
 10. A non-transitory, tangiblecomputer-readable medium storing machine readable instructions forgenerating alerts that, when executed by a processor, cause theprocessor to: receive telematics data from a first and a second vehicle;and wirelessly transmit, in response to the processor determining, basedupon the telematics data, that (i) an anomalous condition is present atthe geographic location of the first vehicle, and (ii) a calculatedgeographic relationship between the first and the second vehiclesatisfies a threshold distance condition, an alert indicative of theanomalous condition to a computing device associated with the secondvehicle, wherein the alert warns a driver of the second vehicle of theanomalous condition to reduce a risk of the second vehicle experiencinga physical vehicle collision as a result of the anomalous condition. 11.The non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 10,wherein the instructions to receive the telematics data includeinstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processorto: receive first telematics data from a first mobile computing devicethat is travelling within the first vehicle; and receive secondtelematics data from a second mobile computing device that is travellingwithin the second vehicle.
 12. The non-transitory, tangiblecomputer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the telematics dataincludes data selected from one or more of, and not limited to all of: atimestamp; one or more sensor metrics indicative of braking motion ofthe first vehicle; one or more sensor metrics indicative of accelerationmotion of the first vehicle; one or more sensor metrics indicative ofcornering motion of the first vehicle; one or more sensor metricsindicative of a direction of the first vehicle.
 13. The non-transitory,tangible computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructionsto determine whether the anomalous condition is present at thegeographic location of the first vehicle include instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to determine whether aspeed of the first vehicle is less than a threshold speed.
 14. Thenon-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 10, furtherincluding instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause theprocessor to: calculate a geofence around the first vehicle, and whereinthe instructions to generate the alert further include instructionsthat, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determinethat the threshold distance condition is satisfied when the secondvehicle is located within the geofence around the first vehicle.
 15. Thenon-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium of claim 10, furtherincluding instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause theprocessor to: adjust the threshold distance condition based upon acalculated population density corresponding to the geographic locationof the first vehicle or the second vehicle.
 16. The non-transitory,tangible computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructionsto generate the alert further include instructions that, when executedby the processor, cause the processor to determine that the thresholddistance condition is satisfied when the second vehicle is located lessthan a threshold distance from the first vehicle.
 17. A first mobilecomputing device located within a first vehicle, comprising: one or moresensors configured to capture telematics data associated with the firstvehicle; a communication unit configured to receive telematics data froma second mobile computing device located within a second vehicle; and aprocessor configured to determine whether an anomalous condition ispresent at the geographic location of the first vehicle based upon thecaptured telematics data associated with the first vehicle, wherein thecommunication unit is further configured to generate an alert indicativeof the anomalous condition in response to (i) the processor determiningthat the anomalous condition is present at the geographic location ofthe first vehicle, and (ii) a calculated geographic relationship betweenthe first and second vehicle satisfying a threshold distance condition,and wherein the communication unit is further configured to wirelesslytransmit the alert to the mobile device located within the secondvehicle, and wherein the alert warns a driver of the second vehicle ofthe anomalous condition to reduce a risk of the second vehicleexperiencing a physical vehicle collision as a result of the anomalouscondition.
 18. The first mobile computing device of claim 17, whereinthe communication unit is further configured to receive the data via (i)peer-to-peer communications between the first mobile computing deviceand a second mobile computing device located within the second vehicle,or (ii) network communications between the first mobile computing deviceand the second mobile computing device.
 19. The first mobile computingdevice of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured toadjust the threshold distance condition based upon a calculatedpopulation density corresponding to the geographic location of the firstvehicle or the second vehicle.
 20. The first mobile computing device ofclaim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to determinewhether the anomalous condition is present at the geographic location ofthe first vehicle based upon whether a speed of the first vehicle isless than a threshold speed.